I heard on ABC News Jack Hanna mentioned that while tranquilizing could have been an option, sometimes it doesn't work because the shot doesn't hit the muscle but on the bone instead. And it's also dangerous for the inspector to check if the animal is really tranquilized or just merely down....so it could attack during the inspection. It's such a shame that these exotic animals were killed but the choice to protect human life was priority with the law enforcement officials. A very scary situation and very sad, too.