Tbilisi flood: Missing tiger found dead in central Tbilisi

The body of a tiger has been found in central Tbilisi this morning; meaning all wild animals that escaped from Tbilisi Zoo during the June 13 flash flood are now accounted for.

The tiger was confirmed to be Salima, an Ussuri tiger from Tbilisi Zoo. She was the last wild animal that remained missing since the natural disaster.

The tiger's body was found near storage facilities near Laguna Vere, not far from Tbilisi Zoo where another missing tiger attacked and killed a man several days after the flood. That tiger was killed by police shortly after the attack.

Meanwhile Ussuri tigers are the biggest cats in the world, standing 1.2m (4ft) tall at the shoulder and 3.6m (12ft) from nose to tail.

Hundreds of special officers from Georgia’s Interior Ministry, Tbilisi City Hall’s animal monitoring officers and volunteer hunters have searched for Salima for the past three weeks.

Tbilisi Zoo lost three of its staff and dozens of animals in the flood. Some of these animals died in the flood while others managed to escape their enclosures and roamed Tbilisi streets before they were either tranquilised or killed by authorities.

Two weeks after the disaster officials said two wild animals were missing - a striped hyena and a tiger. The hyena was later found dead in its mud-filled enclosure in Tbilisi Zoo, while Salima was found this morning.