Tiger escapes at San Francisco zoo, kills visitor

SAN FRANCISCO - The San Francisco Zoo was closed to visitors Wednesday as investigators returned to the scene to determine how a tiger escaped from its enclosure and attacked three visitors, killing one of the men and mauling two others.

Link to full story.
www.msnbc.msn.com...


Wow! Any ideas how this could have happened? How in the world did she get out?

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[edit on 26-12-2007 by Jbird]

I read this story earlier today and my only thought was:

"Kitty snagged some Christmas dinner......"

These are large carnivores and you certaintly can't blame the cat.
I can't even visit a zoo anymore because I don't think they belong there and won't contribute to their confinement. Sadly though, they will all be lost if left in the wild.

With so few tigers left in the wild now I'm afraid this is another species destined to extinction.

reply to post by anxietydisorder


AnxietyDisorder, I completely agree with you.I find it hard to visit zoos as well.As for tigers,My son was born in the chinese year of the tiger, and that is what I named him...Tyger.They are very special to me, and him.
What I cannot understand,is HOW she got out of her cage?

They just don't know right now.........

"We don't know how it was able to get out, "Robert Jenkins, director of animal care at the zoo, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "The tiger should not have been able to jump (out). This is the first thing we will be investigating."

The tiger, a 4-year-old Siberian named Tatiana, was the same animal that chewed a zookeeper's arm in an attack during a public feeding demonstration a year ago, the Chronicle reported. The victim, a man thought to be in his 20s, was found near the tiger enclosure. The two men were injured at a nearby cafe, which is where police confronted the tiger -- who was standing on one of the injured men.

The tiger display, known as a "grotto," is surrounded by a 15-foot-wide moat and a 20-foot-high wall, the Chronicle reported. There were no obvious signs of damage that might explain how the animal escaped.
blogs.usatoday.com...

Sadly the tiger was killed by the police. :shk:

I also found this strange:

The San Francisco medical examiner had not been able to identify the dead man, investigator Tim Hellman said Wednesday. The man did not have any identification and no one had called asking about him, according to Hellman.

The dead man was found near the tiger enclosure, so it makes me wonder if he was involved in the escape or just the first meal the cat could find.
The zoo was closed at the time.


Hey AD,
I was also born in a year of the tiger, 1962.
I've always felt a special kinship to these amazingly independent and resourceful animals. I think you picked a wonderful name for your son, and I'm sure he'll live up to his namesake.



EDIT: add quote


[edit on 26/12/2007 by anxietydisorder]

AD

Tiger's normally don't like the taste of human meat. They rather have beef, elk or pork & I'm sure the zoo feeds them well. I was just wondering if visitors are allowed to throw in something for them to eat?
Could the animal have been drugged? I hope they do an autopsy on this beautiful animal.

reply to post by anxietydisorder


Ok, that last little tidbit is WEIRD.A homeless person..or someone looking for an exotic way to end his life.Still how did he get her out?

Edit to add..my son does live up to his name already.He has such a love for animals,and they him.My cat sleeps with him instead of me.:shk:It's cute though.

[edit on 26-12-2007 by AccessDenied]

While any lose of human life is tragic and our feeling should go out the familes of the victims, it is very sad that the first reaction of us humans is to kill the tiger.

This is a situation of our making.

reply to post by Freedom ERP


I agree with you.She should have been captured.Not shot.But perhaps her spirit is happier now.FREE.

Just an update this morning.An animal Expert, Jack Hannah, gives his view on what happened, plus what the local investigation is looking for.
www.msnbc.msn.com...

they've been saying the tiger might have been taunted.

course the cops roll up and bring out the steel.

could have at least tazed it

i am with those who are against going to the zoo's as well.

of course i have been but it has been years and i won't be going back any time soon. i don't want to support the confinement of any of the animals....

It would have been awesome if the devoured had been some hippie vegetarian.
"Tiger Eats Vegan" ... I believe I would have to cut that out and hang it on my wall.

Humans, the taste so good cats ask for it by name!

Peace

Since I live in Oakland, I've heard a lot of this on the news.

It's being treated as a crime scene -- they think that someone "assisted" the tiger in getting out in some way. Perhaps taunting, or something else.

As it develops (and I can stomach the infotainment) I'll post updates.

Update:

Animal expert Jack Hanna, director emeritus at the Columbus Zoo, told Canada AM on Thursday that a shoe was found in the moat "with a blood trail from the wall back to fence.Hanna said the shoe could signal what might have happened before the attack.

"If this did happen and you were tantalizing an animal with your feet over the wall, it's like going to a big NASCAR race and going out on the track over the fence," he said.

Link to full article:




www.msnbc.msn.com...

Edit: Sympatico links never work right...:shk:

[edit on 27-12-2007 by AccessDenied]

Oh, and BTW, in regards to the tigers not usually liking human meat comment.

Tigers in India have sometimes become man eaters since there have been both tigers and men coexisting in the same space. usually it's because a tiger is old or injured, or insane.

I don't think a zoo animal qualifies as strictly sane. Tigers in the wild have huge territories and ample opportunity to exercise their hunting instincts. In a zoo, no matter what the enrichment program, they won't have the same opportunities.

I feel bad for the people the tiger mauled and killed, but I also feel bad for the tiger. She'll probably be destroyed now, which is a shame, considering how endangered Siberians are.

Yeah they're saying the tiger could have been taunted. If those guys taunted the tiger, then all I have to say is good, that's what they get. If that's the case, I don't feel bad for them at all. I have sympathy for their families, but none for the guys themselves.

And of course the first reaction is to kill the tiger. That's how humans are. Kill now, ask questions later. It's the same humanistic way that made these guys taunt the tiger in the first place. People think they're superior to the animals in some way, so we keep them locked up in these prisons to be viewed by these fat American families that can't afford to make the trip to Africa, Asia, or any other native continent of these wild animals.

It's pathetic how people behave. If the guys were attacking the tiger, would the police have shot the guys? Of course not. Because human life somehow has more importance than animals.

What a disgrace:shk:

Unfortunately, I just found out the tiger was shot on the scene by SFPD.

Once it has a taste for humans, though ... not much you can do, I guess.

Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
Unfortunately, I just found out the tiger was shot on the scene by SFPD.

Once it has a taste for humans, though ... not much you can do, I guess.

It had the taste for humans last year when it bit its handler.

If it turns out that these people were taunting the tiger, oh well. How the old saying goes, if you mess with the bull you'll get the horns.

Originally posted by testrat
How the old saying goes, if you mess with the bull you'll get the horns.

Yep. Maybe the rule should be, don't do anything that you wouldn't do if there wasn't a fence in between you and the animal. I'm pretty sure these guys wouldn't have been so brave if there wasn't something in between them and the tiger.

A new contributing factor has been exposed by the zoo director.

Two days after an escaped tiger killed a teenager at the San Francisco Zoo, the zoo director acknowledged Thursday that the wall around the animal's enclosure was 12 feet - well below the height recommended by the main accrediting agency for the nation's zoos.

According to the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the minimum recommended height for tiger exhibit walls is 16.4 feet.
www.guardian.co.uk...

It's starting to look like the person taunting the cat gave the animal enough impetus to jump the wall.