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Human Role Not Ruled Out in Tiger Attack
MyWay/Drudge ^ | 12-26-2007 | robertson

Posted on 12/27/2007 10:18:04 AM PST by wardaddy

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The big cat exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo was cordoned off as a crime scene Wednesday as investigators tried to determine whether a Siberian tiger that killed a visitor escaped from its high-walled pen on its own or got help from someone, inadvertent or otherwise.

Police shot the 300-pound animal to death after a Christmas Day rampage that began when the tiger escaped from an enclosure surrounded by what zoo officials said are an 18-foot wall and a 20-foot moat. Two brothers who also were visiting the zoo were severely mauled.

Police Chief Heather Fong said the department has opened a criminal investigation to "determine if there was human involvement in the tiger getting out or if the tiger was able to get out on its own."

Police said they have not ruled anything out, including whether the escape was the result of carelessness or a deliberate act.

(AP) Tatiana, a female Siberian tiger that killed one person and injured two others, is seen in the lion... Full Image

Fong said officers were gathering evidence from the tiger's enclosure as well as accounts from witnesses and others.

One zoo official insisted the tiger did not get out through an open door and must have climbed or leaped out. But Jack Hanna, former director of the Columbus Zoo and a frequent guest on TV, said such a leap would be an unbelievable feat, and "virtually impossible."

"There's something going on here. It just doesn't feel right to me," he said. "It just doesn't add up to me."

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: humancompassion; maul; sf; tiger; zoo
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To: Bon mots; Gator101

My question is:

Who would they go to a zoo at that hour of the day on Christmas Day? Obviously the lads were Latinos, so why would they be there and not with family?

Methinks this is a gang-related matter.


161 posted on 12/27/2007 1:20:57 PM PST by SilvieWaldorfMD (Hard lesson learned in the 1980's: "Never perm and dye your hair at the same time")
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To: All

“...sources close to the investigation said police are looking at the possibility that one of the victims climbed over the shorter fence and dangled a leg or other body part over the edge of the moat.”

“The minimal evidence found at the scene included a shoe and blood in an area between the gate and the edge of the moat.”

Sounds like the top of the moat is level with the spectator
walkway ???


162 posted on 12/27/2007 1:21:38 PM PST by biscuit jane
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To: Tijeras_Slim

some Tigers are peaceful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7RqkPy0lBQ&feature=related


163 posted on 12/27/2007 1:24:20 PM PST by hippyhater
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To: pepsionice
Two guys got caught up by the Tiger about 200 to 300 ft down from the Tiger area...we are really told alot about the first guy but it appears that he got caught alot closer to the Tiger area...maybe right there at that point.

Last overheard in the area...

"I don't have to outrun a tiger; I just have to outrun YOU!"

164 posted on 12/27/2007 1:24:30 PM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: MARTIAL MONK
They are laying in wait...

I kinda doubt it... Oh, gotta go, Mrs.Slim is shouting something outside.


165 posted on 12/27/2007 1:24:45 PM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Gator101

I hadn’t seen your theory and had posted as if I had figured this out. I use to own cats and only figured that the “method” was a device to allow the cat out that was no longer at the scene...it can only logically be the mauled body. It was danggled in, the cat used it as a scratching post, scratched up and out with several people trying tp pull screaming person out and what we ended up with angry free tiger in mouth of free tiger and 2 bloody people running for the cafe (scent) and the origanal pull toy was left dead at the exhibit.


166 posted on 12/27/2007 1:24:48 PM PST by antivenom (If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much damn space!)
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To: Gandalf_The_Gray
Damn shame, she was a beautiful beast and worth more then the scum who baited her into attacking.

You do NOT know this to be true.

167 posted on 12/27/2007 1:25:36 PM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Senator Goldwater

I don’t think that this is about the hoodlums *deserving* death because of the taunting. I believe this is about *natural consequence*.


168 posted on 12/27/2007 1:25:44 PM PST by getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL (****************************Stop Continental Drift**)
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To: HairOfTheDog

Your first paragraph demonstrates that you do not have a firm understanding of the concept of either salvation or grace. But this isn’t a theological debate.

You are confusing ‘deserved’ with ‘consequences’. Just because a person acts in a certain manner, and the worst consequences of his actions happens, that does not lead to the conclusion that he ‘deserved’ the consequences. Else, by the same logic, every time a race car driver is killed while racing, we should conclude that he deserved to be killed. Or, every time a football player is injured during a game, he deserved to be injured.

Capiche?


169 posted on 12/27/2007 1:26:16 PM PST by savedbygrace (SECURE THE BORDERS FIRST (I'M YELLING ON PURPOSE))
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To: hippyhater

ROFLMAO!


170 posted on 12/27/2007 1:26:43 PM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: HairOfTheDog

“But I will say it’s plausible South Park will cover it in an upcoming episode... only they’ll probably let Steve Irwin tell us whose fault it really is, with a stingray tangling from his chest. ;~)”

LOL ! Yeah I can see it now — paper tiger and all !


171 posted on 12/27/2007 1:27:00 PM PST by biscuit jane
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To: savedbygrace
Capiche?

I'm not the one who was misinterpreting what was written in the post you responded to. I understand the concepts quite well.

172 posted on 12/27/2007 1:28:39 PM PST by HairOfTheDog
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To: savedbygrace
"Do the guys deserve punishment for taunting a caged cat? Yes. Do they deserve death? Decidedly not."

Do dumb kids (and sometimes drunks) deserve punishment for playing chicken with a freight train? Yes. Do they deserve death? Decidedly not, but the law of gross tonnage says if they're not fast enough, they lose.

Tatiana the tiger was pretty much a living freight train. Sometimes death is the penalty for extreme stupidity.

173 posted on 12/27/2007 1:29:25 PM PST by MizSterious (Deport all the illegals to sanctuary cities.)
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To: Fawn

Fawn, I agree. She was a peaceful, magnificent creature. Then these three idiots (probably drunk) decided to pelt her with rocks and twigs.

Too bad she had to be shot.

The punks and their parents will sue and win millions, just like Rodney King did, in the Republik of Kalifornia.


174 posted on 12/27/2007 1:30:09 PM PST by Palladin (Cackle..cackle..cackle. Hillary laid another egg.)
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To: Bon mots

Interesting.

It sounds like the kids deserved to die. Too bad only one met his maker for his stupidity and cruelness.


175 posted on 12/27/2007 1:30:30 PM PST by rwfromkansas
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To: Tijeras_Slim

They always have a big brother at home.


176 posted on 12/27/2007 1:30:33 PM PST by MARTIAL MONK
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To: HairOfTheDog
I don't think we know yet what happened.

There ya go!

177 posted on 12/27/2007 1:31:19 PM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Elsie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-X97EGqvWg

The Gladiator knew how to handle a tiger


178 posted on 12/27/2007 1:32:37 PM PST by hippyhater
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To: wardaddy

The kids taunted the animal. It reacted normally.

Too bad for the kids. They have learned a lesson that will keep them from growing up to be serial killers though. That is good.

I feel bad for the tiger. So sue me!


179 posted on 12/27/2007 1:32:56 PM PST by rwfromkansas
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To: wardaddy

I agree, we have some real sick people here who think it is better that a man die than a tiger be taunted.

That’s the same mentality that says we shouldn’t eat meat, use wool or leather, breed chickens or eggs, hunt, have circuses or pets, ride horses or drink milk.

It’s sick...it’s what St. Paul talked about when he cautioned against worshipping the creation rather than the Creator.

Ed


180 posted on 12/27/2007 1:33:09 PM PST by Sir_Ed
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