Mexico steps up search for escaped tiger

Mexican authorities are setting up a plan to capture a tiger that escaped from a restaurant zoo, and have seized more animals from the owners.

Mexican authorities say they are intensifying efforts to trap a tiger that escaped from a restaurant zoo on the country's southern Pacific coast.

Tracks from the tiger named "Ankor" were found about 10 kilometres from the private zoo he escaped from in the township of Coyuca de Benitez, west of the resort of Acapulco.

Experts from Mexico's Environmental Protection agency said on Friday the tiger was in an area dotted with marshes, reeds and stands of button mangrove.

The agency said it was setting up a plan to capture the tiger without hurting it.

Authorities also seized another tiger, a lion and a jaguar from the zoo, known as the "Mangrove Paradise."

It said the owners had not provided adequate security measures nor properly cared for the cats.