Mike Tyson recalls story of when his pet tigers 'ripped someone's arm off' and he paid $250,000 in c

Mike Tyson once paid a woman who trespassed on his property $250,000 in compensation after she was involved in an accident with one of his pet tigers.

The former undisputed heavyweight champion famously kept multiple white tigers in his home for more than a decade between the 1990s/2000s.

Tyson explained: "I had three of them in my house.

"This is how it happened, I was in prison and I was talking to one of my friends who I bought exotic cars from.

"He was saying a friend he knew owed him money.

"And he said, 'If he doesn't pay me any money I'mma take some of these cars and trade them in for some animals.'

"I said, 'What kind of animals?' He said, 'Horses and stuff. Mike they have some nice tigers and lions too. If you got one of those that would be so cool.'

"I said, 'Yeah that would be true. Why don't you order me a couple? I'm getting out in a couple of months.'

"So when I got out I came home and I had two cubs."

Eventually Tyson - the original 'Tiger King' - came to the realisation that the animals should not be domesticated and so donated them to a sanctuary after 14 years.

Speaking about one of the animals, Tyson previously revealed in a GQ interview “I had to get rid of her when her eyes and her head got bad.

“Oh and she ripped somebody’s arm off.”

Before now, 'Iron Mike' has never spoken in depth about the incident.

However when asked if his tiger jumped over a fence and attacked a neighbour, Tyson clarified: "No, not that's not what happened.

"Somebody jumped over my fence where the tiger was and jumped in their habitat and started playing with the tiger.

"And the tiger didn't know the lady so it was a bad accident.

"She jumped in the property where the tiger was at.

"They tried to [sue me] until they found out she jumped over the fence and she trespassed the tiger.

"And listen, when I saw what the tiger did to her hand, I had a lot of money back then, so I gave her $250,000 or whatever it was.

"Because she was just f***ed up."

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