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 ...
From another FR poster - I quote:
COOPER: Jack, there’s a report from an unnamed source from one of today’s papers, saying that the young men involved in this attack may have taunted the tiger. They had slingshots on them at the time and a bottle of vodka in their car.
The bottom line is we don’t know what happened. They’re not talking, which is the most important thing for them to do. But what exactly would it take to provoke an animal like this to jump and attack?
JACK HANNA, ANIMAL EXPERT: I’m — I’ve said, Anderson, all along since you watched my first interview, and I apologized to the world about, if I’m wrong. But since it’s the first time, that three boys that really didn’t love animals on Christmas day at 5 p.m. when it’s getting dark, going to a zoo, No. 1, there’s something wrong with that altogether.
No. 2, when you go across that fence, you have a fence here. You have a little bit of territory, what I call no-man’s territory. Then you have a moat. When somebody crosses into that no-man’s territory. What would somebody do if they came into your home or your yard. You would go, gosh, what’s that?
Now let’s just say there was a slingshot or something involved. Can you imagine what that tiger was going through, sitting there getting pounded by two or three guys. I mean, give me a break, you know, the moat worked for 30-something years.
I’m not saying that obviously the cat got out. If that’s the reason then, you really had to provoke something to do that. Using the word taunting really isn’t harsh enough as far as what this cat went through, if that’s what happened. And I’ll tell you, it’s sick.
COOPER: It’s remarkable that the young man who died, his father has come out and said he wants these two other young men, these alleged friends of his son, to at least call him and let him know what happened. They haven’t called him. They haven’t called to apologize. They haven’t called to check in on him at all. And still to this day, they’re not cooperating with — they haven’t been cooperating with police. Or are reluctantly cooperating, to the extent that they have.
So the bottom line is, they should be the ones coming forward. And they’re the only ones who know for sure what happened.
HANNA: I bet you’ll find out, if they ever start talking, which I hope they do for that father’s sake, as well as those new folks, that the world will then know what happened that night.
But I said from the very first moment that this whole thing doesn’t sound right to me after 40 years of doing this. And only one death, Anderson, in the last 45 years, we’ve been keeping record, in the last 40 to 50 years, one death in the zoo, and that’s 2.5 billion- plus people in the country going to zoos. I’d take my odds any day of the week with 2.5 billion visitors to a zoo and we have one death. You know, something is wrong here.
COOPER: As someone who is affiliated with zoos and has been most of your life, there’s clearly a responsibility on the zoo’s part to keep visitors safe. It is a hard balance, though, I mean, if someone is taunting the animal.
HANNA: Right, Anderson. Obviously, the zoo is responsible. But, again, you know, what are we supposed to do? At NASCAR, if you have a fence and you cross that fence to go inside where the racecar are going at 200 miles an hour, and you get hit, you know, how high are we supposed to make fences? How high are we supposed to make moats? I mean, you know, we can only do so much in the zoological world.
COOPER: Do you think this is going to lead to changes in other zoos around the country? I mean, do you think other zoos are now checking their security barriers, checking the — their enclosures?
HANNA: There’s no doubt about it there’s going to be some other — there will be some changes made. People know what to do. They have to come to a zoological park and respect the animals.
You know, the whole — one word is respect. When someone comes to your house you respect it. When I go to the wild, like you do, you respect the gorillas and whatever. And I respect. People should respect that this is the animal’s home.
COOPER: Jack Hanna. Appreciate your comments, Jack. Thanks for being with us.
HANNA: Thanks a lot, Anderson.
No. All three victims were together when the tiger escaped, killing one of them. The other two ran for the cafeteria, which was closed. The tiger chased them. You make it sound like the two survivors didn't know the dead boy, when in fact they all arrived together.
Lot of Sikhs out there. But the name is definitely NOT Moslem.
If Punk#1 existed, and is dead, they’ll find him in a few days.
The 17 year old has not been reported to have a criminal record; just that he's dead.
Earlier threads contained information about how zoos are "regulated" in this country. Beyond zoning and building codes, they have an association that sets "standards" and writes "guidelines" for special zoo features such as cages, confinement areas, baths, showers, hot-tubs, moats, and furniture the animals might need.
Folks who violate their "standards" or "guidelines" might well find themselves "de-certified".
Now, as to "regulations", zoos have been quite successful in avoiding overt public "regulation" through laws and ordinances designed specifically to control zoos.
In the end, a 12.5 foot span was simply not enough to keep the tiger enclosed.
Whether that 12.5 span was indicated in a "rule", "regulation", "standard" or "guideline" is irrelevant. That's how high it was.
Turns out the "guidelines" specify something higher in any case.
BTW, next time you go to a "rule book" fight, bring an education and 40 years experience in the matter with you.
You nailed it.
It really is as simple as that.
Re: I’m just sorry the tiger didn’t get all three of them before she was killed by the police.
I think alot of people feel that way.
You watch, after a full investigation is done and the final picture is portrayed totally different than the initial CMA allegations by the Friends of the Zoo you'll see them peddling the same lame excuses as him through cover of friends.
So, no slng shots. No report of public drunkeness. No taunting. No rocks thrown. No boards tossed. And yet the tiger was able to jump 12.5 feet with ease, barely 4 feet higher than my 20 pound pet Burmese housecat!
I'm still wondering how the folks at the zoo missed that ~ if, in fact, they missed it.
The footprint on the railing is intriguing. What if the gangbanger brothers held their buddy upside down into the pit? Tatiana the tiger, could have clawed him and climbed up his body to the railing before they knew what happened.
Gang initiation stunt gone wrong? Or were they attempting murder by tiger?
Well, the zoo is in full denial mode at this point. However, according to one “witness”, she had seen guys “roaring” at the lion’s cage. Maybe the lions sent the tigers a BOLA. Maybe the young men taunted the tiger about how fat she looked. (You do know that horizontal stripes make you look fat vs. vertical stripes?) .... and so on.
Just being sarcastic here. I, for one, am not glad all three were killed. I value human life, even stupid peoples’ lives.
“Link please????? “
Don’t go getting hysterical. Sheesh. I have a new mac computer and I’m still working on the cut and paste thing - however, I said it was from AC 360.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0801/01/acd.02.html
Damn you busted all the wacko's bubble.
Still there’s that stray shoe found near the enclosure. Whose was it and where is he?
slingshots.... and laser pointers too
Coincidence? I think not.
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