Mexico says it’s closing in on tiger that has spent a month on the run since escaping from zoo

MEXICO CITY – A tiger named “Ankor” marked a full month on the run Wednesday, having evaded capture since he escaped from a restaurant zoo and disappeared into what appears to be a very tiger-friendly habitat on Mexico’s southern Pacific coast.

Mexican authorities have mounted a full-scale search effort including police, soldiers and a group of 10 big-cat experts.

They are looking in an area of low woods dotted with marshes, reeds and stands of button mangrove west of the resort of Acapulco.

The country’s environmental protection agency said Wednesday it had identified the area where Ankor has taken up residence and had photographed him alive, apparently by using remote trip-wire cameras.

The agency said it expected to capture the animal “in the next few days” and relocate him to a safe place.

Officials have been making similar claims since the male tiger escaped from the Mangrove Paradise zoo and restaurant area Oct. 26.

The week he escaped, the owner of a ranch about a mile (two kilometres) from the restaurant found five of his cows dead, and the tiger is suspected in that case.

The environmental agency issued a statement saying it “recommends that the population not approach” the area “given the dangerousness of this Bengal tiger.”