A white tiger has killed a Georgian man after it escaped from a flooded zoo in capital Tbilisi.
Eyewitnesses in Tbilisi say a white tiger has viciously attacked two people, one of which did not survive the brutal assault while the other has been hospitalized with serious injuries, Georgian Journal reported.
"The man in his 40s was already dead when brought to hospital," a doctor said, according to Civil Georgia. Media reports say that two other men were also attacked and are in critical condition.
Georgia's Ministry of Internal Affairs also confirmed the death on Wednesday morning. Nino Giorgobiani, Interior Ministry spokeswoman, said the man was killed in the city centre.
The white tiger, however, was shot dead in central Tbilisi hours after killing the man. "The tiger has been liquidated [killed]," Giorgobiani said on her Facebook page, according to Agenda.
The victim, a worker at a former textile factory where the tiger was hiding, was attacked upon entering the building located at Laguna Vere, just down the road from Tbilisi Zoo, DFWatch reported. The tiger attacked the man in the neck and fled the site after the victim's colleagues started making noises and broke a window.
"After the flood our store house was very damaged and the company hired extra workers to fix the situation and the man who was attacked was one of them so I did not know him in person, but the rest of the guys, I knew them," an employee of a company that hired the victim said, according to Agenda.
Georgian officials claimed on Tuesday that all missing animals were either dead or brought back to zoo.
"There is no threat from wild animals towards the Tbilisi population as all animals have been accounted for. This information has been double checked," said Mindia Janelidze, head of the Crisis Management Council, according to Agenda.
Several deadly animals fled the Tbilisi Zoological Park over the weekend after flash floods ruined their enclosures, Georgia Today reported. Eight lions, seven tigers, 12 bears, two jaguars and nine penguins were killed in the floods, according to the zoo.
At least 19 people, including three zoo workers, were killed and six people remained missing after torrential rain flooded a small stream running though capital Tbilisi on Saturday evening.
