The police say that there is no evidence of taunting.
And they have denied there were any slingshots.
So absent taunting and slingshots, the tiger was not provoked?
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that police had found blood and a shoe inside the exhibit and were probing whether one of the victims may have placed a leg over the edge of a protective moat, aiding the tiger’s escape.
Officials are baffled as to how the animal managed to escape from the enclosure, which is separated from the viewing area by a moat and a wall.
The Chronicle cited unnamed sources close to the investigation as saying that evidence found at the scene “included a shoe and blood in an area between the gate and the edge of the ... moat.”
The report also said “pinecones and sticks that were found in the moat might have been thrown at the animal. Those items could not have landed in the grotto naturally,” according to the sources.