Horror at the Zoo

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sudsmaster

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Today, Christmas Day, horror met visitors to the San Francisco Zoo.

At the end of the day, one of the tigers escaped its enclosure, entered the Terrace Cafe restaurant, killed one visitor, and seriously injured two others. The tiger was shot dead by police as it was mauling one of its victims.

A year ago at the same zoo, a tiger mauled a zookeeper through the bars of its cage.

Somebody needs to tighten up the big cat facility at this zoo!
 
Scary Business!

I don't know when people will ever learn that big cats are nothing like housekitties; they never grow tame and they never lose their instincts for roaming free and killing.

Tippi Hedren (star of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds) runs a sanctuary for big cats that have been on exhibit and then grown neglected or dangerous due to stress. It's called Shambala, and I wonder if maybe it's time to wind down big cat programmes in our zoos and let Tippi take care of 'em. She allows them to run free within their fenced areas, and no one is allowed to do any "taming" or make them perform in any way. They just get to be big cats, doing what they do, until they die of natural causes.
 
More info on the attack:

Tiger kills man at San Francisco Zoo By LOUISE CHU, Associated Press Writer

A tiger that mauled a zookeeper last year escaped from its pen at the San Francisco Zoo on Tuesday, killing one man and injuring two others before police shot it dead, authorities said.

The three men were in their 20s; they were together and were not zoo employees, San Francisco Police spokesman Steve Mannina said.

They were attacked just after the 5 p.m. closing time outside the zoo's Terrace Cafe on the east end of the 1,000-acre grounds.

It was unclear how the tiger escaped or how long it was on the loose. The Siberian tiger, named Tatiana, attacked a zookeeper last December during a public feeding, according to the zoo's director of animal care and conservation.

The zoo, which is open 365 days a year, was evacuated immediately after the attack was reported.

Police arrived to find the tiger on top of a victim. The tiger then started moving toward a group of approaching police officers, and they opened fire with handguns, Mannina said.

The two injured men were in critical but stable condition at San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco Fire Department spokesman Lt. Ken Smith said. A call to the supervising nurse at San Francisco General was not immediately returned.

"This is a tragic event for San Francisco," Smith said. "We pride ourselves in our zoo, and we pride ourselves in tourists coming and looking at our city."

Authorities did not believe there were any other people attacked, but because it was dark they could not be certain. Investigators remained on the scene and Smith said a thorough sweep of the grounds would be conducted in the morning.

Officials at first worried that four tigers had escaped, but only one got out of its pen, Mannina said.

Tatiana is one of two Siberian tigers in the zoo's collections, according to its Web site. Last December, the 350-pound animal reached through the cage's iron bars and badly lacerated the zookeeper's arm. The zoo's Lion House was temporarily closed during an investigation.

California's Division of Occupation Safety and Health blamed the zoo for the assault and imposed a $18,000 penalty, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

 
Well, of course it's tragic! Can you imagine sitting around having a latte and getting attacked and killed by a freakin' tiger...on Christmas day, no less? We take zoo safety for granted, but they are potentially very dangerous places---big apes, bears, big cats.
 
Talk about the holiday curse-this is a very bad thing-loss of life to the zoo patrons and last-the tiger.such a beautiful creature.Sadly Tigers are pretty but so dangerous!Out my way have worries about hitting deer,or worse black bear or even a feral hog.the feral pigs can get almost as big and as dangerous as the black bear.We all think we are so safe at zoos!but think again!Just one bout of carelessness by a zoo employee and zingo-the zoo creature wants to interact with the zoo patrons!At the animals I see on the way to work at night in the country--am I going thru a giant "Drive thru" zoo?One time had a close encounter with a "mama" bear and her cub-just watched and let them do their things-then went on my way.Was kind neat.Another time stopped for a bear tearing across the street in front of me-waiting to see what was chasing it?nothing came by so went on my way-just seen Jurassic Park-thought the "T-Rex" was chasing that bear!
 
I cannot say I'm a big fan of the zoo concept, but if it's the only way to keep some animals from going completely extinct, ok. And it does help to educate people who otherwise would never get a chance to see certain animals in real life.

What bothers me and others about this event is that the zoo knew it had an exceptionally dangerous animal who'd already attacked a zookeeper. Latest reports are that the tiger either figured out how to cross a 20 ft wide 10 ft deep dry moat - which is a bit scary, or somebody helped it get loose, which may be even more scary. In any case, I suspect attendance at this particular zoo will be at record lows for some time to come. And it may give gun rights advocates something to claim could have been prevented if everyone were allowed to carry handguns.
 
Charlie:

"Well, even Tippi Hedron has had problems. Recently, one of her employees was badly mauled by a bengal tiger."

Yes, there have been incidents at Shambala, but they're due to proximity between big cats and humans, not the stress of exhibition, which is a factor in a lot of aggression towards zoo personnel. Big cats are genetically wired to attack humans if they're too close, and caring for big cats does mean you have to get close from time to time. So, some trouble is inevitable. At least Shambala does what it can to give the cats an environment where they're not poked and prodded and leered at all day.
 
Yes, to the big cats people are food.Interesting in the states with concealed carry laws there has been NO problems,or additional deaths due to misuse of folks carrying the guns. Concealed carry laws-they only make the place safer!Shooting animals in an enclosure is illegal.
 
I have heard this morning

That they were taunting her. Don't know whether this is so or not.
But if they were taunting her, then they got exactly what they deserve and it is a true shame she was killed.
Why do people think we are the only intelligent species on the planet? Anyone who has lived with a house cat knows that they never forget, never forgive and always balance the books. Research has established that cats are just as good at thinking around 'three corners' as we are, they just take longer than we do. But once they know how to do it, watch out. I bet she had known for three months of the design weaknesses of her surroundings...
I stay out of American pro-/con- gun control discussions. It is interesting to compare the situation with other western nations, however.
 

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