Posted on 05/12/2007 8:29:57 PM PDT by Omega Man II
Sun 13 May 2007
'Pet' tiger mauls woman to death
PAT WILDE
A 32-YEAR-OLD woman was mauled to death by a tiger at an exotic animal farm in British Columbia, Canada, while children looked on in horror.
Tanya Dumstrey-Soos spoke with her fiancé Kim Carlton, who owns the farm, by mobile phone as she lay dying.
"Before she passed away Kim did say that he did have a chance to talk to Tanya," said Scott Nelson, who employed Dumstrey-Soos as a receptionist and saleswoman at the Advisor newspaper in the town of 100 Mile House, British Columbia.
"He said the two were able to say they loved each other and he was obviously horrified."
Nelson, the mayor of Williams Lake, British Columbia, said that Dumstrey-Soos and Carlton had recently become engaged to be married.
The woman was found outside the tiger's cage when emergency services arrived at the farm on Thursday evening, said Royal Canadian Mounted Police corporal Scott Ksionzyk in 100 Mile House.
'Before Tanya passed away Kim had a chance to talk to her. They said they loved each other'
"There is no indication that the tiger was outside of the cage; nor is there any indication that the victim entered the cage," Ksionzyk said.
Nelson said Carlton described a bizarre, freak accident involving a tiger named Gangus.
Carlton "didn't think the tiger had bitten her," Nelson said. "She had a dress on and she was standing there and he was playing with the dress and grabbed her legs. She was standing outside the cage and talking to Gangus, who swatted her legs."
He said Gangus was the only one of the three tigers on the farm not to have been declawed.
A number of youngsters, including one of Dumstrey-Soos' children, witnessed the attack, said Constable Annie Linteau of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It is believed Carlton's children, Dakota, 12, and Kodiak, 15, also saw her being mauled.
"We were obviously horrified, more horrified that the young kids saw it, that they were there and obviously our hearts are with them," Nelson said.
Regional coroner Bruce Chamberlayne said Dumstrey-Soos was taken to a hospital in 100 Mile House after the attack but could not be revived.
The farm, at Bridge Lake in the interior of British Columbia, is called Siberian Magic. Carlton stages exotic and magic shows and also sells services such as photographs with the big cats.
The RCMP said all the animals - including the three tigers, a lion and a lemur - remained secured on the premises, 25 miles east of 100 Mile House.
After the incident, British Columbia Agricultural Minister Barry Penner said authorities would determine whether there was a need to change regulations that allowed private citizens to keep exotic animals. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has called for legislation to ban the practice.
Siberian Magic's website invites people to visit the Bridge Lake facility to experience "the wonderful worlds of magic and exotic animals." The farm is about 250 miles north east of Vancouver.
"Visit our animals up close and personal," invites the website. "Capture the memories and have your photo taken with our amazing Siberian tiger, Kisa, or our African lion, Sarmoti, as well as many other wonderful animals."
The site claims the company educates people about exotic animals in a "safe, enjoyable way."
Marcie Moriarty, who is the general manager of cruelty investigations for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, described the facility which houses the wild animals as a "public safety catastrophe".
"The tigers are being kept in 12-foot square (3.6 metres square) chain-link enclosures with a mere padlock on the enclosure. The animals' owner had admitted to walking the tigers, his kids feed them," she said.
Carlton had been under investigation by the SPCA since November 2005 when he moved his tigers to the 100 Mile House area, Moriarty confirmed.
After notifying regional authorities about their concerns, the SPCA tried for months to seize the animals but there was not any room at any facility, including the Calgary Zoo, to take them.
"The use of exotic animals in entertainment is simply playing with fire," Moriarty said.
Erin Kincaid, event manager for the Bearfoot Bistro in the ski resort of Whistler, had considered having one of the tigers at an annual masquerade event in November 2005.
But criticism from locals and animal rights campaigners persuaded her that she should drop the idea.
"We were just unfamiliar with the fact that so many people felt so strongly against it," Kincaid was last night reported as saying.
Commenting on the death, she added: "More than anything my heart goes out to the tiger. I really hope it doesn't end up having to pay for this because this is not the tiger's fault at all. I truly believe that it's how they keep them."
The tiger must have slashed a femoral artery or something?
Don’t know what it will take for people to stop treating these wild animals like housecats. :*(
How many people have to be killed by their "pets" before people realize that wild animals are ..... wild?
He was frightened and he felt faint and he tried to say an act of contrition and he remembered how it started but before he had said, as fast as he could, “Oh, my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee who art worthy of all my love and I firmly resolve ... ,” he felt too faint and he was lying face down on the floor and it was over very quickly. A severed femoral artery empties itself faster than you can believe.— Hemingway, The Capital of the World.
-—More than anything my heart goes out to the tiger.-—
Would she be willing to pay for counseling for the tiger, I wonder?
No thanks, I think I'll stand over here.
Hopefully the children got refunds or free day-passes or something...
Is it even Sunday the 13th there yet?
Here's your Oscar for best performance standing and waiting.
More to the point, why don't people respect that a CAT is a CAT? About the only difference between a housecat and the tiger is size. My little housecat would have mauled me to death in a snit ten times over if she was as big as a tiger. *sigh*
A cat is a cat. Declawing them -- amputating the last joint of their fingers, so to speak -- is just nasty. I'll stick with my mini-cougar, thank you very much. She gets feisty, but her claws are a LOT smaller and I'm a LOT bigger.
These animals are 500-700 lbs, immensely powerful, with 2” long claws and 1-1.5” teeth and are super-predators, the very top of the food chain. One swat of their massive paws or a bite from their powerful jaws can tear a human to shreds easily. Their instincts are to dominate their domain and to kill for food. Too many people that try to interact with and domesticate these magnificent animals and others like them end up mauled or dead. They are tempting God by putting themselves in harm’s way on purpose.
Poor foolish lady. You have to question the wisdom of anyone who is so trusting of genuinely savage animals. Or the wisdom of anyone who is so hippy-ish as to name her children Dakota Dumstrey-Soos and Kodiak Dumstrey-Soos.
Those children! It’s impossible to imagine the emotional pain of young kids who saw such a horror. Prayers for their peace and comfort.
If any zoo kept tigers in a cage that small they would be denounced for cruelty.
Yeah, the tiger must be feeling quite distraught. Well maybe he can plead insanity/s;)
ping
They’ll do that quicker than an Aztec priest.
Hopefully the children got refunds or free day-passes or something...
Was it an “Evil” petting zoo?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.