Posted on 08/25/2012 9:06:51 AM PDT by presidio9
A Siberian tiger attacked and killed a female keeper at Cologne zoo on Saturday before being shot dead, a zoo spokesman said.
The gate of the tiger's enclosure had not been properly shut, allowing the big cat to jump on the woman and maul and bite her. She later died of her wounds in hospital.
The director of the zoo, Theo Pagel, shot the tiger dead from a rooftop, the spokesman added. Police briefly cleared the area after the incident but the zoo later reopened for visitors.
The victim's name was not released but she was said to have been 43 years old.
"This is the darkest day of my life," Pagel later said in a brief statement at the zoo's entry, the Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger news website reported.
Cologne zoo in
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnews.nbcnews.com ...
Siberian Tiger! I have heard that when hunting
Siberian tigers...at some point the tiger is
hunting you.
Was it the victim who didn’t shut the cage properly?
Good thing they didn’t call NYPD. Every animal in the zoo would be dead.
Don’t know, don’t care. I posted this one for the headline, which gives equal emphasis to the fate of the tiger. Wild Siberian tigers may be endangered, but they are doing just fine in zoos.
Nine bystanders were not wounded by stray bullets in this incident.
Sorry for the keeper, good they whacked the tiger. They should leave it where the other big cats can see it for a while, they’ll get the message.
New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said all nine bystanders wounded in Friday’s Empire State Building shooting had been hit with police gunfire, CNN reported Saturday morning.
According to Kelly, of the nine wounded, three suffered gunshot wounds and six were hit by fragments.
Gunfire broke out shortly after 9 a.m. on Friday when a gunman identified as 58-year old Jeffrey Johnson shot and killed former coworker Steve Ercolino near the Empire State Building.
Johnson attempted to flee the scene, but was thwarted after a construction worker who followed him tipped off police officers.
The problem with most wild animals is that nobody considers the thousands of years of survival instincts bred into them until they are on top of you biting, kicking or clawing the crap out of you. Nature only has one rule and this is that survivors create the next generation.
I was envolved in the construction of a lion exhibit once. The head lion keeper was one deadly serious dude.
RIP.
Most people think wild animals are cute. An adult male chimpanzee looks nice enough, but can lift 600 pounds (and easily tear off a woman’s face). And don’t ever corner something as cute as a raccoon bare-handed. Both zebras and hippos kill more people in Africa each year than lions. My boss had worked with Michael, the sign-language gorilla. She showed me the puncture marks on her upper thigh where Michael was “just playing around.”. Gorillas have big, pointy teeth!
When going to the zoo, my favorite stop is always at the tiger cage. I think they are the most beautiful animals on earth. And I also know they are quite deadly, and not “cute” or “cuddly.”
There is a reason the most fearsome tank in WW2 was called the Tiger. Allied tank men did not think them beautiful, cute or cuddly.
Funniest line of the day.
Ummm...stay serious...stay alive...good motto in that line of work.
Don’t know, don’t care. I posted this one for the headline, which gives equal emphasis to the fate of the tiger. Wild Siberian tigers may be endangered, but they are doing just fine in zoos.
Until some idiot leaves the door open.
same thing with puma and black bears....
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