LONDON, Ontario, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Canadian animal control officials in southwestern Ontario say they don't know the location of a Siberian tiger that killed its owner last month.

Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals spokeswoman Alison Cross told the Toronto Star inspectors went to the farm southwest of London, Ontario, last week to check on the animals but didn't find any.


The 650-pound tiger mauled owner Norman Buwalda Jan. 13 as he was feeding it. Buwalda had successfully challenged township bylaws banning exotic pets.

There were also reports there were two lions on the rented farm, but there was no sign of them either, Cross said.

"We haven't been able to reach the property owners to ask them where the animals are," Cross told the London Free Press.

Julie Woodyer, campaign director of Zoocheck Canada, said she wasn't optimistic about the cats' plight.

"I'm guessing they either were moved into a worse situation or euthanized," she told the Free Press. "Euthanasia is perhaps preferable to a lifetime in a small, substandard facility."