TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian man who kept exotic cats behind his farmhouse was mauled to death by his 650-pound pet tiger, police said on Monday.

Norman Buwalda, a 66-year-old collector of wild animals, was found dead in the tiger’s pen on Sunday afternoon at the property in western Ontario,

“The owner of some exotic animals went out to feed the tiger which was in a cage or large pen and the animal attacked him and killed him,” said Troy Carlson, a constable for the Ontario Provincial Police who attended to the incident.

He said Buwalda’s family and officials of nearby Southwold township would decide what to do with the tiger. The cat was found pacing inside the compound in which it was kept when police arrived on the scene.

The tiger was described as a large, fully grown male, although Carlson could not identify the subspecies.

“There were no witnesses so we don’t know what prompted the attack, but a short time later a family member found (Buwalda) and contacted police,” he said.

Carlson said that six years ago a Siberian tiger attacked a 10-year-old boy on the Buwalda property.