“I feel better now. I’m not the only one explaining why it’s shorter than expected.”
Why do you “feel better”? Do you have an agenda against zoos?
Let me asl you this, in all seriousness, and with no snarkiness. I’ve spent a LOT of time at the zoo. I had year-round passes for years, went almost every weekend to get exercise, draw and photograph the animals, and because it was a way to donate to the zoological society. I’ve spent a LOT of time in the tiger area, inside and out.
The way the zoo used to be set up, I believe they changed it with the new layout, is that 20 feet away from the tiger grottos, there were ‘savanah” enclosures, with zebra and gazelle and other animals a tiger would love to eat. I’ve watched the tigers stop in their tracks and sniff the wind when it shifted, when they could smell the zebras. I saw peacocks and pidgeons in the moat, and the tigers did’nt even pay attention. The tigers are well fed, and it’s timed so that they are drowsy and digesting their meals during park hours, purposely.
I *never* saw a tiger move towards the moat, let alone the wall.
Why does the height of the wall *now* matter, when all these years - and the enclosures were built a long, long, long time ago, a tiger *never* attempted nor got up that wall?
It had no *reason* to.
And this time, when one DID, it did’nt go after a beast of prey, which are nearby, or into another pit, after a female in heat (it was a female that attacked, anyway), or made a break for freedom, or hid (which most tigers do in the wild, they are NOT social animals), nor did it seek escape from the zoo.
No, it tracked, stalked, and killed one prey and attacked two others.
Why?
Answer that, then, how?
The only answer that makes sense, is they provoked it, and provided means to allow the tiger to escape. If they provoked a tiger enough just throwing pinecones and sticks - which has been reported as having been found in the moat, and there are no pine trees near the tigers - that tiger would have been making a godawful racket, and the keepers would have responded. Tigers are very vocal when upset - you can see it when they feed them. They scream, literally, and they are LOUD.
No, I think the kids provoked it, one of them, probably the one who died stuck a limb in, and the tiger used him as a ladder to get at the three provoking her. She was shot standing over her intended kill. She did’nt stop to eat the first kill, so we can safely ( IMHO) rule out hunger. Tigers don’t kill multiple animals to feed, they kill ONE. She attacked 3.
Now, having said all of that, IF the walls were too low, that’s a legitimate issue that needs to be looked at, but they’d been given a green light all these years by the officials who regulate these things. We either have a massive, instititiuonal failure, and all zoos need to be looked at, or we have a freak occurance where the low wall only became an issue because the 3 teens created it.
Personally, I’m leaning towards closing the zoo, because it’s impossible to create a ‘safe” zoo that keeps the idiotic public from throwing themselves into the cages, and getting killed. I equate it with that idiot who ‘communed” with the bears in Alaska, and got consumed. The bears were;nt at fault, his idiocy WAS, and in this case, if the kids provoked that tiger, and i seriously suspect they did, then they get their own page on the Darwin Awards for being complete morons. I’d say the same about a 17 year old riding a cheap Japanese motorcycle at 100 MPH in shorts and no helmet. Waste of a life, too bad they had no common sense.
Your post is very interesting.
I agree with you although I don’t have such extensive zoo knowledge as you. But I know a bit about animals and go on, that tiger was enraged. I understand that a tiger is a vengeful animal. Somehow, someway, she felt threatened enough to attack those guys. I can’t believe that it was just a matter of throwing pinecones. But hey, if they were hitting the tiger and hurting her...well, well....
Although hey, my guess is that the guys were likely inside the grassy area at the very least, and who knows, they could have somehow gotten inside the grotto proper.
IT WAS A JOKE ABOUT "LITTLE WILLY".
Well, in the wild tigers (and other large cats, and little cats) track, stalk and jump at game animals many times without the luck of a kill.
After a dozen or two times, they may make a kill.
These pampered pussies of the plains get little opportunity to track, stalk and jump.
One day this cat decided to jump out of the pit (which she knew she could do from the first day she was placed in it) and get in a little practice.
Nothing more than that. No rage. No emotion. No one offended by "taunting by evil little boys" stuff either.
Just a tiger making her rounds!