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I bought tigers for tourism, not to terrorise people - Freedom Jacob Caesar

Businessman, Nana Kwame Bediako, popularly known as Freedom Jacob Caesar, has reacted to claims that his two tigers have been terrorizing residents of his Wonder World Estates at Ridge in Accra.

Nana Kwame Bediako, popularly known as Freedom Jacob Caesar

According to him, he bought the wild animals for tourism purposes and that conversations had been ongoing between him and the Ghana Tourism Authority about where and how to keep them to boost the country’s tourism.

He added that it was not his intention to endanger the lives of the residents with the tigers but rather to add value to Ghana’s tourism industry.

This follows agitations by the residents who claimed that the canines had attacked two people and they got injured.

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"The animals stink. Those animals are held inside an apartment where there is no access to proper fresh air. As soon as the door is open, you sniff a strong unpleasant smell emanating from them," one of the residents lamented to Daily Guide.

"It doesn’t make any sense to have wild animals, tigers for the matter, in an estate in the heart of the city where there is just less than a meter between the houses and also without any proper training and care [for them].

"When we saw them building [the structure], we asked them which institution gave the authorisation for them to put up such structure for the animals in a residential area.

"They told us they did not owe us any explanation and so will not provide any such authorisation to us. Even if they had any such authorisation, it only belonged to them."

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The worried residents further claimed that they had contacted the Ghana Wildlife Society to complain but the situation remained the same.

"Anytime we called to find out how far, they keep tossing us. We are told sometimes that the officials had traveled, and a lot of back and forth.

"They don’t tell us anything and that is the reason we intend reporting to the matter to the police if we don’t hear from Wildlife Society after some time."

Meanwhile, the Accra regional police have said that efforts are underway to remove the tigers from the community to ensure the safety of the residents.

In a statement on Thursday, May 19, the police said they have received a complaint, and are liaising with the Ghana Wildlife Society to remove the tigers from the residential area to a more appropriate place.

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