ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE) – The Albuquerque Police Department is addressing concerns about an increase in reports of exotic animals being illegally kept as pets. Most recently, police came across a tiger cub in a dog crate in southeast Albuquerque while investigating a shooting last week.
That cub is now in the care of the BioPark Zoo. He is not the same tiger that police were looking for when they raided a house near Old Town in September, where they found an alligator but no tiger.
On Wednesday night, Chief Harold Medina said he believes the tiger may have been recovered in another state. He says these investigations are often linked to other criminal activity. “Some of these actions are being committed by individuals in the narcotics world and they are linked, possibly have links to cartels,” Chief Medina said. “Very complicated investigations.”
He says he is considering a campaign through Crime Stoppers, asking the public to report people who have exotic animals.