Following a fatal incident: Authorities seize Carmen Zander’s tiger Update

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For a long time, they were a local attraction: Carmen Zander’s tigers in Dölzig, near Leipzig. Since 2022, she had 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.

UPDATE: In the afternoon, the district administration announced that Carmen Zander’s facility had been deemed suitable for only two animals. Consequently, six of the eight animals were seized – a legal term known as ‘removal’. They will now live in Villena, Spain, where the animal welfare foundation Animal Advocacy and Protection (AAP) runs a 20-hectare rescue centre.