Rapper Tyga Reportedly Kept Bengal Tiger as Pet

A seven-month-old Bengal tiger, reportedly kept at a Southern California mansion by Grammy-nominated Tyga, has been sent to a local shelter.

The tiger was kept by the rapper as a pet at his Ventura County home.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Thursday that the 100-pound tiger was taken to a local facility. Fully grown Bengal tigers can weigh as much as 800 pounds, abc local news reported.

It's unclear how long the rapper kept the feline at the Ventura County home. According to media sources, a neighbor alerted the state officials about the tiger.

Department spokesman Andrew Hughan said that wildlife officials kept a look-out for around seven hours until Michael Ray Stevenson, who goes by the stage-name Tyga, returned home, according to nbcnews.  The rapper informed the officials that he had taken the tiger to a Ventura County shelter earlier that day.

Under the Fish and Game Code, animals such as tigers can't be kept as pets. These animals "must be kept in a permitted facility that is licensed to house and care for restricted species." According to Hughan, Tyga could face up to six months for misdemeanor possession of a prohibited species, nbcnews reported.

"This incident is under investigation," Hughan told abcnews. "We may or may not file charges."

Tyga's Instagram account has images of the pet tiger. In one image, the tiger is seen sitting on a black Rolls Royce.

Bengal tigers are native to India and are also referred to as Indian Tigers. It is the most common of all tiger subspecies with some 2,500 individuals living in the wild. Poaching and climate change are major threats to wild tiger population, according to The World Wildlife Fund.

Back in 2003, a 400-pound (180-kilogram) Siberian-Bengal tiger was found  living in a New York apartment as a pet. National Geographic reported that as many as 15,000 exotic big cats were living in homes or zoos across the United States.

Think people living with one big cat are inviting trouble? A family living in Brazil has adopted seven tigers as pets. See a video about the family and their exotic cats, here.