“The minimum standard for a tiger enclosure is 16’-4”.
SF zoo officials in huge trouble.
Deservedly so.”
Perhaps. I’ve spent a lot of time at the SF Zoo, in the Cat House more specifically, and I’ve spent a large amount of time at the tiger enclosures drawing them and photographing them. I never saw a tiger go near the moat, and it’s a lot deeper and wider than the photos show. The tigers spend their time in the shade near the top - tigers by nature are lazy and only pursue prey when they want to eat, or provoked.
My gut feeling is the kids provoked the tiger. I witnessed that kind of thing constantly at the zoo - I watched people throw things at the animals, shine those laserpointers into the apes eyes, throw batteries, yell at them, taunt them, go out of their way to provoke a response from the animals.
I also have a strong, strong hunch it was a video-taped event, for showing on YouTube or one of the other video sharing sites, and I have a strong hunch pictures or video was found on their cell phones, but that evidence will never see the light of day.
I have no trouble imagining that the cat used a dangled limb as a ladder, and the cat got more purchase with it’s back paws while grabbing the limb with it’s front paws.
I *never* saw a tiger act in a threatening manner in it’s grotto, in the multitudes of times I was there. I saw them avoid things being thrown at them...I saw them stop and sniff the air when the breeze shifted and it could smell the zebra close by...I saw them “rawr” out of boredom, but never run around the moat, or try to jump the wall. Those tigers have been there years, with no problems with the public - even with the public TRYING to provoke them.
IF this was a freak occurance, then sympathy for the dead and hurt. If not, then I have as much sympathy for them as anyone else on the Darwin Award’s website - it’s absolute common sense you don’t mess around with a tiger, period. Ever. Even if it’s “tame”, like the ones in Vegas. We all saw what happened there. A tiger, once removed from the cage, sees us as food, and a pissed tiger? Forget it. The thing they say about tigers is, kill it fast, because if you don’t, it’s going to stalk you until it gets you. That’s why I think it was provoked - and provoked enough that when it got out, it did’nt seek food, or freedom, it sought out TARGETS.
As much as I hate it with a passion, I think the SF Zoo should shut down, to the public, anyway. I stopped going because it was being overrun with immigrants who saw it as a cheap place to babysit their kids while they sat around the cafes gossiping, or getting drunk and/or high on the grass, while their kids ran wild. The issue isn’t wild animals, it’s a moronic, stupid public who have to be coddled and protected from themselves - they clearly cannot understand “climbing into tiger pit = bad”, and will now sue because they raised a stupid child with no common sense.
The SF Zoo is probably doomed now. The rewards from the multiple lawsuits will cripple their already faltering funds, and the city has probably been waiting for this opportunity to tear down the zoo to make way for some prime real estate (and new property taxes). Like I said, maybe it’s better.
Close the zoos, and take the breeding facilities private, so stupid people can’t throw themselves into them. End of problem.
Several people have mentioned that this might have been video taped but the evidence will never be acknowledged. Why? That would clear things up. Why, if there is evidence that these guys were involved would it be kept quiet?
On the other hand, I have loved some of the smaller zoos I've visited. Salisbury, Maryland had one of the nicest small zoos I've ever seen. More of a park than a prison, with the animals seeming more like pets on a tidy farm. Fancy birds, some oddities, not too many stinking monkeys, buffalo babies, and one panther (not such a big cat to manage) that always slept. A good cat for a small zoo is an ocelot. There's always the snakehouse for a good shiver.
That's the sort of behavior which almost doomed Magic Mountain.
Zoos know that jerks are going to throw stuff at the chimps, whistle at the tigers, etc. The SF zoo also knew that it had a tiger that attacked a zoo keeper last year with NO provocation (she was feeding it and dropped something) and the tiger was therefore dangerous and special care should have been taken. And now it looks like the zoo didn’t even meet the minimum standards...not good.
Normally, I think people suing the city (for slipping when they get off a bus, for example) are gold-diggers with no justification. But I lived in SF for years and have family out there, and I can tell you, carelessness is practically a hallmark of SF, in every respect, and this, to me, looks like San Francisco carelessness.
Interesting post - thank you for that. I avoid our zoo (L.A.) except for the mornings after a 3-day-weekend, when no field trips and fewer illegals have been able to plan to go.
If the kids were taunting the poor tiger, then I feel they got what they deserved.