A landowner in Malibu would like to bring five Siberian tigers to live in her backyard.
However, neighbors say that having a dangerous predator in a residential neighborhood with young children is inappropriate, KTLA reports in the video above.
“Fences can be jumped, mistakes can be made with handlers and caretakers and electric fences, things like that,” said neighbor Ilene Mickens, who lives in Deep Creek, the Malibu neighborhood where the tigers would live.
The tiger owner, who would train the animals for work in the entertainment industry, is waiting for an OK from the county. The project also includes the installation of a 2,300-foot-long, eight-foot-high fence, within which the tigers would be kept in chain-link enclosures.
Last month, the county said that the facility would not negatively impact the environment, CBS reports. The tiger owner will also need to go through the California Department of Fish and Wildlife at the federal and state levels.
Neighbor Nanette Bercu told CBS that she's concerned for her kids. “Feeding them, getting them to school, getting everywhere. Last thing I want to worry about is if a tiger is going to get loose,” she said. “One mistake by a human and a tiger can get loose. No one can predict that. No one can secure us from that. And there’s no insurance for that.”
In 2005, a couple was moving their exotic cats from San Diego County to their new residence in Moorpark when a Siberian tiger escaped and roamed eastern Ventura County for almost four weeks until it was shot and killed.
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