Detroit Free Press staff

British photographer David Yarrow booked a two-day photo shoot at Detroit's Packard Plant.

Only problem was, he apparently didn't tell anyone at the plant that he was bringing a tiger, two wolves and a bobcat with him.

Pictures of the wild critters amid the rubble of the infamous Packard ruins were making the rounds online today. The animals, trainers and photographers were given the boot about an hour later.

But not before the tiger got loose and holed itself up on a fourth-story staircase.

"I got a call from a friend who asked me to help them get this tiger out of a staircase," said Andy Didorosi, 28, of Detroit. "He asked me if I had a leafblower, and I said I had a weedwhacker, so he told me to bring that. ... I stopped what I was doing, grabbed my tools and hopped in my truck, because, you know, tiger. ...

"I don't know much about tiger logistics, but we were told to be this huge blue tarp monster with the weedwhacker and try to be scary and make loud noises. That just made him angry. You could say he got tiger rage, so we retreated."

You can watch the harrowing attempt in Didorosi's video here:

The trainers were apparently able to get the tiger safely back into its cage.

Kari Smith, project manager for the Packard Plant Project, said: "We arranged for a photography group of humans to be on site for two days. We never approved any animals being on the site, and we had the matter taken care of in the first hour. We do not condone animals being on the site here, and the shoot was canceled. This is nothing we signed on for."

She added that the animals were not harmed and trainers were on site to handle the critters.

Didorosi said that the local crew helping with the shoot was told only that "models" were being used, not wild animals, and then "this big 'Jurassic Park'-like trailer shows up with all these wild animals."

The Detroit entrepreneur was not happy with Yarrow's bravado.

"People think it's OK to bring super dangerous animals into the city without alerting the authorities because they think people don't care, because they think it's a cesspool and that they can do whatever (they) want," Didorosi said. "That is not cool."

Even though the Packard Plant was not told of the animal visitors, the Detroit Police Department was notified, according to John Roach, a spokesman for Mayor Mike Duggan. Roach said police personnel were on the scene at the time.

"This crew that was doing the filming requested and received all the necessary permits to do their filming," Roach said. "They didn't do anything wrong in that regard."

Yarrow is a renowned wildlife photographer based in London whose work has been exhibited around the world. The Nikon camera company features him as one of their "Nikon ambassadors" in the United Kingdom. Nikon describes their ambassadors as "some of the most talented visual artists in the business today."

An e-mail to Yarrow's photography website seeking comment was not returned.