Following a fatal incident: authorities seize Carmen Zander’s tiger

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For a long time, they were a major attraction in the region: Carmen Zander’s tigers in Dölzig, near Leipzig. Since 2022, she has been using the former winter quarters from the days when she still went on touring engagements. For just as long, animal rights activists, the authorities, the trainer and supporters of the small, circus-like facility had been locked in a back-and-forth debate over right and wrong, entertainment value and species-appropriate care.

After Sandokan the tiger escaped from his enclosure on 17 May and was shot dead by the police in a neighbouring allotment garden, the conflict has now taken a new turn: at around 7 am today, a large police contingent arrived, accompanied by several transport vehicles. This was first reported by the news portal TAG24. At midday, the transporters left the site not far from the Dölzig petrol station. Eyewitnesses report that the convoy included vehicles with foreign number plates.

In response to an enquiry from the LZ, district administration spokesperson Sebastian Stöber confirmed media reports that the tigers had been anaesthetised and transported away by staff from the veterinary office. He did not provide any details on the convoy’s current destination and referred to a report to be issued at a later date. Carmen Zander could not be reached by the time this article went to press.