Krivo said the US soldier had apparently tried to feed the big cat and "the tiger then engaged the soldier's arm."

Adel Salman Musa, the head of the zoo, said Sunday that the tiger was killed last week during an apparently drunken party between US soldiers and a group of Iraqi police officers.

"One of the soldiers, who the Iraqi police said had drunk a lot, went into the cage against the advice of his colleagues and tried to feed the animal, who severely hurt his arm," he explained to AFP.

The tiger tore off one of the soldier's fingers and mauled his arm. One of the other soldiers immediately fired at the animal and killed it, he said.

Krivo said that the results of the investigation would determine the military's next course of action which could include a compensation payout for the death.

"The soldiers don't have the right to behave like that. That was the most precious and valuable animal in the whole zoo. It was 14 years old and had been born here," Musa said.

The Bengal tiger is an endangered species which is protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

Only 3,000-4,500 Bengal tigers are left in the wild.

TERRA.WIRE