“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?”
That’s a very, very good question, Cindy.
Perhaps it would’nt clear things up for the boys, who *might* face charges stemming from the death of their freind. If they helped provoke the tiger, and their friend died, they will be charged with his murder, this is not, I strongly, strongly suspect, a case of the zoo being negligent or it being a random tragedy.
I’ve talked to the keepers at the zoo many, many times, they are knowledgeable, educated, dedicated people, some with ph.ds, who live on a tiny fraction of the money they could earn, caring for those animals. They watch them every day, all day, all year. if there was even a HINT that a tiger, even an aggressive one like a Siberian, could scale that wall, I strongly suspect it would have been dealt with a long time ago. These are not uncaring people, their keepers care more about those cats than they do having familes or making money, they make huge sacrifices to do what they do.
I just don’t see the SF Zoo people being that clueless, or careless, about their animals, or the safety of the public. This doesnt add up as an accident or freak occurance. i’ve been there, many, many times, the tigers do not go down in the pit, it’s not like it was an everyday occurance that someone would be teasing a tiger, with it jumping up down at the bottom, like a dog after a stick. (There’s also very little water, it’s supposed to be dry, but water collects from rainwater - the tigers are watered at the top of the enclosure. They *might* go into the water to cool off, but it very rarely gets that hot in that part of SF. )
I’m no expert. I could be wrong, but I don’t think the height of the wall is the reason for this. if the tiger had been making attempts to scale that wall in the past, it would’nt have been IN that enclosure, I strongly suspect. They;ve been in there for over 60 years without incident, after all.
Also, for those who lump the SFZoo in with the freaks in the city, don’t. They have been at odds with SF for a long time, the PETA freaks in the Bay Area have been against the zoo for decades, and the libs think it’s a waste of space, and they get very little support from the city financially, it’s all funded by selling admittance and donations. The zoo has come close to closing several times due to lack of funding, and like I’ve said, it might be better if they close or move, or go private, it’s not appreciated, and if our current crop of teens are too dumb NOT to go in a tiger pit, and then the parents expect to get paid, then we need to shut the zoos to the public.
Sounds reasonable. I still can't believe the 12' wall thing. Mobile homes (single wide) are often 12' wide!
We have a nice zoo here. Kids don’t run wild or tease the animals either, that I have seen. I think the reason is that we are very proud of it and there are workers and slews of volunteers everywhere watching those animals.