Runaway tiger kills man in Tbilisi after flood damages zoo

Armed municipality workers search for a white tiger that escaped when floods destroyed its enclosure, in Tbilisi, Georgia, June 17, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Georgia's Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili criticized zoo officials for providing false information and ordered the interior minister to personally oversee the count of how many animals have died and how many remain missing.

"I want to offer my apology to the population," he said.

After the premier's statement, the zoo director acknowledged he was to blame for the misinformation.

"We had wrong information that there were no predators outside the zoo," he said. "I take full responsibility for that."

Gurielidze said a tiger cub could also be roaming the city streets, but said he "poses no threat to people."

On Tuesday evening, several hundred demonstrators gathered outside the main government building in Tbilisi in support of the zoo director and to protest what they suspect is a government attempt to pin all the blame on him. A social media posting organizing the protest said the government should resign.