Lion on the run hampers Hurricane Ike rescue efforts

Shackle, who was saved from a local zoo as the storm struck, is holed up in the sanctuary of the First Baptist Church in Crystal Beach, lounging across the altar and being fed roast pork by local residents.

The lion and her owner, Michael Ray Kujawa, waded into the church after roads out of the area were blocked by flooding. People who were sheltering inside the building helped lock the lion in the sanctuary - and then stayed well away.

"They worked pretty well together, actually. When you have to swim, the lion doesn't care about eating nobody," said Mr Kujawa.

Jim Yarbrough, a Galveston County judge, said the authorities were working out a way of evacuating the big cat. "When you think you've seen everything, you find something else," he said.

Locals did - when they discovered that a tiger is also on the loose.

Officials in Galveston County, the coastal area worst hit by the storm at the weekend, have called in animal experts to find and catch the freed tiger, which is thought to have escaped from an exotic pets centre.

"The tiger was understood to be hungry so we're staying away from him", Mr Yarbrough added.

Residents of the coastal towns shattered by the hurricane, which has killed 50 people, have almost no services and have been given little idea of when they may return. Despite the US government's apparent determination not to repeat the debacle of Hurricane Katrina, it faces growing complaints that the official response to Ike has been slow and ineffective.In Houston, residents have been spending hours on end queuing for food, water and ice at the 22 supply distribution centres.

Bill White, the city's mayor, said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was not bringing in supplies sufficiently quickly.

More than 30,000 people have been stranded in shelters and around two million Texans remain without power.

Despite the primitive conditions, thousands of people tried to get back on to Galveston Island - the worst hit area - after officials opened a temporary "look and leave" facility so residents could check on the state of their homes and businesses.

The authorities want to evacuate the nearby Bolivar peninsula so rescue crews can begin the recovery effort.

However, around 250 hard-core holdouts - including the lion and tiger - weathered the storm and have so far ignored evacuation orders despite a lack of power, gas or running water.

Officials are now considering legal action to force them out.The remnants of Ike are continuing to bring flooding and high winds to the Midwest, affecting states including Ohio, a thousand miles from the Texas coast where the hurricane made landfall.

- Telegraph,Uk