Trail of blood apparently led escaped tiger to victims

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Dec 27, 2007 | Kevin Fagen, Jaxon Van Derbeken, Steve Rubenstein, Cecila Vega

[fignewton]

San Francisco police are investigating the possibility that one of the victims in the fatal tiger mauling on Christmas Day climbed over a waist-high fence and then dangled a leg or other body part over the edge of a moat that kept the big cat away from the public, sources close to the investigation said Wednesday.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

No they aren’t. That’s how they know that their handlers are the “big bulls” and shouldn’t be crossed. They learn quickly that some of those soft squishy things with no fangs or claws are still very deadly.

They can also learn to be affectionate towards individuals, but they are extremely dangerous if they don’t know you. Just like you say, they are intelligent creatures and as such they don’t think of each human as being the same.

Some are weak and sick and look like they would be easy to take down and eat. Others are big bulls, not to be crossed or they could die.

This cat met some sick and weak humans and easily took them down. Then a big bull human came and killed the cat.

[Caramelgal]

Not all tigers are man eaters. Man eating tigers should not be kept for a zoo.

FYI; All tigers and other predatory animals are “potential” man eaters. They are all highly evolved and very efficient predators by nature. Tigers don’t discriminate between prey and they don’t make moral judgments to decide what humans are off limits. To them, any animal straying or invading into their territory is either a threat to their territory or a meal and if you venture into their hunting grounds and are a vulnerable and potentially tasty, you are a potential meal.

They are also very territorial animals and if you are stupid enough to go into a tiger enclosure and taunt them to attack you, you will get exactly what you deserve.

While we’d like to believe we can tame the savage beast, we are only a best, delaying and temporally suppressing their true nature.

People are supposedly more highly evolved but their actions often prove they are not.

[Tammy8]

It is one of my biggest pet peeves that many people do not teach their children to treat animals with respect and kindness. Children are not born knowing how to deal with animals- they must be taught. I don’t care if one is an animal lover or not- they still have the responsibility to teach children how to interact with them- it is a basic life skill. There are a lot of animals on this planet that people have to coexist with.

I never for one instant allowed my children to mistreat any animal in any way- even when they were very small toddlers. If they were old enough to navigate to an animal they were old enough to punish for treating the animal badly, and old enough to teach the proper way to deal with animals. Respect and proper treatment of animals is just one of my fundamental rules. I am an animal lover, but the fact is it is also a safety issue for the child. No animal will tolerate being taunted and will strike back if possible. Many of the dog mauling children incidents begin with the dog being teased by the child.

I totally agree with you, I feel sad that this tiger had to die and the police and others were placed in danger because these jerks teased an animal and then managed to somehow cause this incident. These jerks were old enough to know better- but obviously didn’t, they were lacking in basic life skills. I do not feel sorry for these jerks.

[HairOfTheDog]

F%&k the tiger.

You first...

*snort*

[7thson]

That’s a good answer though it has been put down now. I will bow to those who said that it should not have been put down a year ago because it did what it’s suppose to do. However, I would like to think that an agreement can be reached that at the least, the tiger should have been removed from the zoo and put in some other protective habitat, away from masses of people.

[jwatz49]

Ditto!

[SWAMPSNIPER]

“F%&k the tiger. A person died”.

---

Suicide, more like it!

[driftdiver]

“It was likely able to escape the enclosure before, just didn’t because it was fairly content and the enclosure was the tiger’s territory.”

It had to get over a 15 foot wide moat and a 20 foot tall wall. According to the experts on TV this would require a supercat. It took more than taunting for this cat to get out. Either someone opened a door or the guys somehow bypassed the moat and wall.

[going hot]

Not all tigers are man eaters. Man eating tigers should not be kept for a zoo.

Let's see, there are how many zoos in the USA?

How many of them have predatory cats on display?

And just how many of those displays would you be willing to climb into and do jumping jacks in front of the animal?

One? Two? Show me the zoo where the tigers are allowed to roam and mingle with the visitors because they are not "man eaters".

[Judith Anne]

Fox is now reporting that the zoo says the tiger could have jumped out.

[driftdiver]

“Fox is now reporting that the zoo says the tiger could have jumped out.”

Dunno, I’m not a tiger expert. The two guys on Fox said there was no way the cat could jump out. Doesn’t make sense they would put a cat in a place where it could voluntarily get out. If that were the case there would be a lot more cases of the bit cats escaping, IMHO.

Tigers are incredibly fast and strong but there are limits.

[numberonepal]

For animals in the wild I would agree.

Here we disagree. I would say the opposite.

[Judith Anne]

From answers.com:

http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?s=How+high+how+far+can+a+tiger+jump%3F&gwp=13

# A tiger that can jump 20 feet almost straight up
http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/ar-news/Week-of-Mon-20040...
# A Siberian Tiger can jump 15 feet in the air. It can also leap 30 feet across the ground and run 50 miles per hour to catch its prey
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977191224
# As a leopard can jump fifteen feet and a tiger can jump twenty, the podium wall was obviously not enough to protect the spectators. However, elephant tusks about five feet long were fixed to the edge of the podium and nets strung along them in such a way that they overhung the arena. In addition, a bronze bar ran along the top of the wall that turned on a pivot so if an animal did jump high enough to grab the bar, it would turn and drop him back into... (see link for further information)

So, I’m speculating here, just speculating mind you, that this tiger could make it. Athletic, young, well fed, in perfect health, sure, why not?

[RDTF]

I am saddened by both deaths but it’s the tiger I am mourning too

[Judith Anne]

See my post 113, it was interesting information.

[RedMonqey]

Anitius Severinus Boethius

" The cat doesn't need to be put down once it comes in contact with a weak or sick human.

Was the original zoo keeper, you know the one that got her arm torn off, a "weak or sick human"

Once a dangerous animal like a tiger has lost it's fear or respect for a human as a equal, i.e. surrogate alpha predator it will come to see all humans as just another prey animal. It would have been an unreasonable risk to all future animal handlers and difficult to handle, medicate, clean it's cage.

True these kids are responsible for putting themselves in the tiger's territory but it could just as easily been one of it's handlers.

It should have been euthanized after the FIRST attack.

That's it. Period.

[RDTF]

did they have the press conference this morning? anything new?

[BurbankKarl]

The kids were in the tiger enclosure....oh well

[Judith Anne]

Most of the news is Bhutto, heard a bit that the zoo says the tiger got out by itself. Fueled with rage, protecting its territory, I’m speculating that it did just that. See my post 113 about tiger athletic prowess.

[BurbankKarl]

I think the SF Zoo should let all the animals roam free....better yet, release them into the city.

That will reduce their global footprint. And I am sick of seeing Heather Fong’s ineptness every time something happens in that city. They need to bring back Harry Callahan.