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 ...
No, the zoo is supposed to build enclosures that enraged carnivores can’t escape from. An exhibit that is attended by hundreds of thousand of visitors a year is not going to be seen exclusively by boy scouts and eighty year old grandmas. You’re going to get the occasional jerk and whoever designed the tiger habitat ought to have taken that into account before deciding to put a creature known to be able to jump fifteen feet behind a twelve and a half foot wall.
AS for these criminals, er “victims” they were hostile while in the ambulance and still wouldn’t cooperate with police after their fellow criminal was killed. These kids did something.
So 100 foot walls for all zoos now, right?
Ludicrous.
12/25/07 - Tiger escapes its cage at the San Francisco Zoo, kills one visitor and mauls two others. The same tiger was responsible for the 12/22/06 mauling of a trainer almost exactly a year ago at the zoo.
12/3/07 - A tiger at a Southern California animal sanctuary run by actress Tippi Hedren mauled a 40-year-old caretaker who was cleaning its cage, critically injuring him.
12/22/06 - A 350-pound Siberian tiger attacked and injured her trainer at the San Francisco Zoo as at least 50 visitors looked on. A man who watched the attack happen says the cat devoured most of the woman's right arm. The tiger did not let go until a zoo employee jabbed her in the head with a long pole.
10/3/03 - In one of the most famous tiger attacks to date, world famous illusionist Roy Horn was critically injured when Montecore, one of his trademark white tigers, bit him in the neck and dragged him offstage at the Mirage in Las Vegas. The entertainer was partially paralyzed from the terrifying attack.
http://wcbstv.com/seenon/tiger.attacks.timeline.2.618057.html
It’s one witness and she saw them growling at the tigers. Not shooting slingshots, etc. According to her the dead boy, Carlos Sousa, was not participating in the clowning. That merits death and clears the zoo?
Taunting is relevant.
And the walls are to protect the four-legged animals from the two-legged animals.
It sounds like you have been around and understand animals.
I think the “kids just being kids” group here have never been around animals personally.
..you tell me
ping to my post #85; this same tiger attacked and mauled her trainer one year earlier.
Siberian Tiger...
Good Kitty
I'm with ya. Screw these 'victims'.
Anyone who is dumb enough to mess with a the BIGGEST Cat in the world deserves what they get.
One ref 'for teachers' says Bengal Tigers are the biggest cat with a male topping out at 500 lbs, but male Siberian Tigers can go to up 600# and are taller. So much for 'teacher reference' material.
I saw that woman feeding the lions and tigers on TV. It was on "Dirty Jobs" and was rerun last night. The idiot was sticking her arms into the cages and petting the lions! She was not observing reasonable precautions. The show was shot in 2005, before Tatiana arrived, but I doubt if her behavior changed that much.
It was her entire family, if you bothered to read the article, and they left over an hour before things got really rough. Why are you so supportive of animal abusers?
Hey, you won’t get me to argue that your sky in Pennsylvania is probably more politically blue than my west Texas sky. However, today my sky is as clear and blue as a MS Windows screen.
I’ll say it. I have no sympathy for the victims.
Actually, the walls don’t do much to protect animals from visitors. If they used slingshots as some have suggested, they’d need much more than a wall. Cameras might have been useful in this situation—then we’d know the truth of it beyond doubt, and end all this bickering on FR.
You're missing the point of why these guidelines exist: to prevent the tiger from escaping and hurting somebody. Recommended height is 16.5 feet, because tigers can potentially clear something lower. You can get away with something lower if you do something else to limit the tiger. In this case, the SF zoo had a moat. Ever tried jumping out of a swimming pool? The water really limits how far you can go.
The SF zoo's moat was unfilled.
If the tiger got out, the enclosure was ipso facto substandard and inadequate.
I read that the guidelines were 16'4". The current height is only 12'5".
See 98.
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