THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Two tigers escaped Saturday from their enclosure at a Dutch big cat sanctuary, but the animals were shot with tranquilizers and never got beyond the sanctuary's outer fence.
"The tigers are back from their adventure and indoors sleeping it off," local Dutch municipality officials said on Twitter.
Officers cornered the animals, and a veterinarian tranquilized them because the outer fence was not considered tiger-proof, police spokesman Nathalie Schubart said. It was not immediately clear how the animals escaped, but a gate to their enclosure could have been left open, she said.
Police warned residents to stay indoors, but the tigers, reportedly a brother and sister, did not hurt anyone during their brief foray into the wooded grounds of the sanctuary, which cares for big cats from zoos, circuses and private owners.
Calls to the sanctuary near the village of Oldeberkoop, 87 miles northeast of Amsterdam, went unanswered Saturday.