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Police examining items for signs tiger was taunted
CNN ^ | 1/3/2008 | CNN

Posted on 01/03/2008 6:12:02 AM PST by Red in Blue PA

SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- Police are investigating whether several items found in the enclosure of a tiger who fatally mauled a 17-year-old man show that the animal was attacked or taunted, San Francisco Zoo spokesman Sam Singer said Wednesday.

Police are examining a large rock, a tree branch and other items, Singer said.

"They [police] are trying to make a determination that those items or any other things that happened on Christmas Day were part of some attack on the tiger or something that angered Tatiana, causing her to come out of her cage," the spokesman said.

San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong has said that a shoe print found on the railing at the tiger enclosure is being examined to determine if one of the victims climbed over the rail or threw their leg over the side.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: sfzoo; tiger
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To: MizSterious

Then you haven’t been reading that much.
________

Of course. Anyone without your perspective is obviously ignorant.

Taking away the ‘those thugs got what they deserved’ posts, the largest bloc of comments really seem to center on the enclosure.

Interestingly enough, your freight train post was only the 2nd post in this thread in which the word blame was found. That was 130 posts in. The first time it cropped up, it was to state that the kids were not blameless.


181 posted on 01/03/2008 8:27:28 AM PST by dmz
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To: SpringheelJack
before they were later mauled at the tiger cage.

That is really funny, last year a drunk kid ran threw my fence, the cops came, and I said, did they write him a ticket, the answer was no one saw him driving, so no ticket. Seeing four people in one spot does not mean they were at another spot except in someones mind. It is meaningless dribble!

182 posted on 01/03/2008 8:35:14 AM PST by org.whodat (What's the difference between a Democrat and a republican????)
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To: SpringheelJack
Am betting the zoo was hoping her LION statement never got to the press.

Let's look at another thing...The boys had eaten at the Zoo Cafe earlier and apparently, they weren't rowdy or someone would have said so by now. And no one has given us the time when this occurred. Maybe it conflicts with the "lion witness" statement.

183 posted on 01/03/2008 8:35:27 AM PST by Sacajaweau ("The Cracker" will be renamed "The Crapper")
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To: Red in Blue PA
Jack Hanna is in the business of peddling information on how to run a zoo.

Here he's saying there was a miracle and the tiger got loose, or Jack is simply pulling the wool over his own eyes and denying that a tiger got loose.

184 posted on 01/03/2008 8:38:05 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: Red in Blue PA
When is the last time a tiger clears a 12.5 foot fence?

Dec 25, 2007.

185 posted on 01/03/2008 8:38:20 AM PST by The_Victor (If all I want is a warm feeling, I should just wet my pants.)
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To: nmh
The height as it is now happens to be BELOW the guidelines. I'm really surprised that you could say that it was OK given that even the top administrator says it's too low.

Do you perhaps sell large animal cages or something?

186 posted on 01/03/2008 8:39:41 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: Sacajaweau

Do you think the Lion Witness knows what the tiger did with the 4th young man?


187 posted on 01/03/2008 8:41:18 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: highball
I don't think so - tigers love the water. An unfilled moat might be more effective in deterring a tiger.

The animal can't get leverage to jump from the water.

188 posted on 01/03/2008 8:42:48 AM PST by The_Victor (If all I want is a warm feeling, I should just wet my pants.)
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Comment #189 Removed by Moderator

To: Cheburashka
No sympathy for the punks on my part, but what if the tiger had decided one day to take a four year old, just because she could? From the facts we know now she could have any time she wanted, she just never was motivated.

Exactly, the motivation of the animal is irrelevant. Suppose the boys were just wearing the wrong color on the wrong day.

190 posted on 01/03/2008 8:46:26 AM PST by The_Victor (If all I want is a warm feeling, I should just wet my pants.)
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To: Red in Blue PA

http://bigcatnews.blogspot.com/2007/06/pet-lion-tiger-kill-man-on-mexico-city.html


191 posted on 01/03/2008 8:46:55 AM PST by muawiyah
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Comment #192 Removed by Moderator

To: nmh
So far there's been only this one case "publicly known". In the previous 60 years they could have had a regular problem with animals wandering about untended, but as long as no one got hurt or killed, the zoo could keep the information private.

There are, however, staff people who know "stories", and I'm sure they'll be telling them to some lawyer soon enough.

Worst of all we know that the zoo staff immediately assumed that the loose cat was a tiger and that there could be four tigers loose.

That means that in their own minds, staff members instantly focused on the very enclosure the one cat escaped from.

Wonder why they did that?

193 posted on 01/03/2008 8:54:48 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: Red in Blue PA

One witness recalled that one of the victims had got the tiger by the tail, it was plain to see!


194 posted on 01/03/2008 8:54:56 AM PST by Revolting cat! (We all need someone we can bleed on...)
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To: Red in Blue PA
Can't spend too much time on this right now, but if any of this is true about the alleged taunting by the victims, it strikes me that the tiger may have tracked the tormenters to the restaurant and not just randomly chosen other visitors.

I was also struck by the fact that the police must have pretty good firepower there, which was a very good thing under the circumstances, shame to lose such a beautiful animal, don't know what it takes to kill a tiger, we have had incidents with dogs where it has taken several shots by the police from a 9mm to drop them.

195 posted on 01/03/2008 9:02:22 AM PST by Aliska
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To: Red in Blue PA

One report aired in my area said that the police found slingshots on the victims. Plural. Empty vodka bottle in auto they were driving.,
Who in the world takes a slingshot to a zoo?

These 3 creeps were looking for trouble. They found it.

The tiger is geting blamed for something that never should have happened.


196 posted on 01/03/2008 9:02:37 AM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: ridesthemiles
There's dispute over the validity of the slingshot story. One of the guys had a court date regarding vodka however, so we don't know if the "bottle in car" story is valid or simply an extension off the court record.

There's dispute over the slingshots.

Remember, the investigation isn't done. The cops have DNA test results to get back (for the "blood trail" because that will give us an idea of who was doing what to whom), and there are witnesses to be located and talked to.

197 posted on 01/03/2008 9:06:48 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: UCANSEE2

I did not mean to suggest the persons accused of taunting the animals, if this is what they did, should be cut any slack. I feel quite a bit more sympathy for the dead tiger who was after all being what she was supposed to be, a wild animal, then I do the kids who got what they deserved.


198 posted on 01/03/2008 9:09:43 AM PST by aroundabout
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To: org.whodat; Howlin; ontap; Red in Blue PA

I had a feeling my #189 wasn’t going to last. :-)


199 posted on 01/03/2008 9:12:18 AM PST by Larry Lucido (Hunter 2008)
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To: Red in Blue PA
I have no personal knowledge but I did read this from several web sites when I got curious:

"In the wild, tigers can leap as high as 5 m (16 ft) and as far as 9–10 m (30–33 ft), making them one of the highest-jumping mammals (just slightly behind cougars in jumping ability)."

This particular passage is from Wikipedia but if you search "how high can a tiger jump" that same information is found from multiple sources.

200 posted on 01/03/2008 9:16:43 AM PST by Proud_texan
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