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Officer who shot escaped tiger defends his action

Tuesday, July 27, 2004 Posted: 1416 GMT (2216 HKT)

LOXAHATCHEE, Florida (AP) -- The Florida wildlife officer who shot a 600-pound escaped tiger to death pleaded in a news release Monday for people to stop calling him an "animal murderer."

Jesse Curtis Lee, 24, was identified for the first time as the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer who shot the big cat twice in the head on July 13 following a 26-hour search.

The commission released its own review of the incident, concluding that Lee used sound judgment and complied with the agency's guidelines when he shot the Bengal-Siberian tiger, called Bobo.

But the report also concluded that the officer's lack of training in dealing with big cats, his proximity to the animal and a tranquilizer team's delay in getting to the scene factored into the cat's death.

The report said officers had four separate encounters with the cat, trying each time to return it safely to its owner, Steve Sipek, an actor who played Tarzan in B-movies decades ago.

On the fourth attempt, Lee and another officer waited for a tranquilizer team to come to the scene, but when the tiger lunged toward the officers, Lee fired five rounds, according to the report. The cat was dead by the time the team arrived.

In a news release, Lee said he was speaking out "to let everyone know that I am not an 'animal murderer' as depicted by members of the community."

"I have always been and will continue to be a person that admires, respects and protects all wildlife. My dad raised me that way," Lee wrote.

Following the shooting, the agency received so many angry e-mails and phone calls -- including at least five death threats -- that some employees were urged not to wear their uniforms for a week.

Bobo was one of several big cats owned by Sipek, who has said there was no reason to shoot the tiger -- and whose mind wasn't changed by the commission's review.

"The lying continues. It just never stops," Sipek told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "Jesse Lee was trigger happy, had no common sense and had no reason to go near that tiger. He just freaked out and started shooting."

State investigators are looking into whether Bobo's escape was the result of any negligence on Sipek's part.