Did He who made the lamb make thee?
Posted on 01/05/2008 8:40:33 AM PST by Mr. Brightside
Published - Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Using ‘taunting’ as an excuse for tiger’s attack is pathetic
by Matt Johnson, managing editor
The oddest thing about this story is the spin some pundits are putting on it saying that the tiger was taunted to attack the humans.
What planet are we living on?
A zoo, any zoo, should have as rule No. 1 -- There’s no possible way any animal in the zoo can harm a visitor.
Blaming people for taunting animals at a zoo is insanity. I’ve been to a zoo or two in my day and at every turn people are either taunting or enticing animals.
Five years ago, I remember going to the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison and going through the great ape area. A zoo official was frantically telling everyone “Turn your back to the orangutan!” as we walked through. Apparently somebody had taunted the orangutan and it was freaking out.
Back to the tiger tragedy -- what a cop out -- “Oh, they taunted the tiger, that’s what caused the incident.”
According to the Associated Press, “San Francisco Zoo Director Manuel A. Mollinedo acknowledged that the wall around the animal's pen was just 12 1/2 feet high, after previously saying it was 18 feet. According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the walls around a tiger exhibit should be at least 16.4 feet high...
“She had to have jumped," he said. "How she was able to jump that high is amazing to me.’”
Amazed? Mollinedo should be ashamed.
Negligence on the part of the zoo that didn’t have a proper-sized safety zone between the animal and spectators was the cause.
(Excerpt) Read more at vernonbroadcaster.com ...
Yes, typical liberal thinking ... if there are enough 'rules', nobody will ever be harmed and the world will be perfect! Come save us, Momma Government, we are too stupid to fend for ourselves!
All sarcasm aside, visiting the zoo is and should not be the same as going out into the wild to gaze at animals, but you have to use some common sense at the zoo as well. Don't aggravate an animal that can tear you to shreds in the unlikely event that it gets loose. Unfortunately, the animal has nothing more to do each day than sit around and figure out how to get out of the bonds of captivity. Once it accomplishes that task, it will do what a wild animal does naturally. In the case of a tiger, it will probably attack some meat.
Yep. The boys deserved is good butt-whipping for taunting the tiger, but not a mauling.
I’m not looking for an argument but the zoo is responsible for what happens on their property. In a perfect world the victims wouldn’t screw with the animals but we live in an imperfect world.
From everything I’ve read, the Tigers weren’t properly contained and the zoo was understaffed which isn’t going to help their case.
Several years back, several people were killed while watching a CART race at MIS. A wheel assembly flew over the wall and catch fence ending up in the crowd. Everything was up to the standards of the day but in the end the speedway ended up paying millions of dollars to the families of the victims. No one was responsible for any foreseeable accident and the people killed were in their seats when they died. Today the catch fence is 11 feet higher and the wheel assemblies on all cars that race there are tethered to the cars.
The zoo messed up in every possible way. It is sad and horrible that the young men may have taunted the tiger and even may have been intoxicated but there is no excuse for that tiger being able to escape, kill and maul. Come on already.
Furthermore, the perverts in SF seem to be more sad about the loss of the tiger than the loss of a human being. Very telling.
I am even beginning to doubt the drunk with vodka story.
If they were publicly drunk, and at least one brother was under age, the police should have (and presumably would have) arrested them. The older brother could be charged with providing alcohol to his minor younger brother, etc.
Of course the liability lies with the zoo but it is just hard not to see the irony in the tiger finally exacting revenge on it tormentors. I don’t believe anyone really thinks it is good that a man was killed. I do believe some future taunters might think twice.
People have no idea how to behave anymore and parents do a piss poor job of restraining their kids.
Darwinism rules....
As I warn my son over and over... do dumb #$%@ and you can die....
Too bad the tiger didn’t get the other two....
Funny how the tiger (and other tigers) were fine in that enclosure for years and years and then suddenly, mysteriously got out and attacked those three Fine? Upstanding? young men, isn’t it? Why not go for some younger, tasty kiddies?
How many visitors do you think have viewed that tiger and others over the past years at the San Fran Zoo? Seems to me, it could have picked easier targets.
Hmmmm very strange.....but I’m sure the police will solve this mystery.
No zoo should be built where the likelihood of a dangerous animal breaking free is dependent on its state of agitation.
Taunting an animal is wrong, it does not warrant a death penalty. Any more than if someone egged your house, and you respond by blowing their head off with a shotgun, that would be wrong too, even if egging your house was incredibly stupid and immature.
I believe the Tigress did that!
People need to be accountable for their actions. If you walk into a bar and start taunting somebody else at the bar, just be aware that you just might get your ass kicked. Or worse. It no different in the animal kingdom.
“Unless the boys aided the tiger’s escape, the zoo is fully responsible.”
“The boys”? I don’t think these punks are “boys” any more than I think our troops are “kids”. Thats liberalspeak.
Wonder why they figured they needed the services of one of the slimiest criminal defense lawyers known to man?
Wouldn’t a personal injury lawyer be the more appropriate choice to recoup damages for these innocent lil’ chillrun?
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Including the zoo officials.
It was their wall that was shorter than industry recommendations.
Did He who made the lamb make thee?
Obviously , all the facts have not come out yet..
except for the zoo’s deficiencies enclosure-wise which are known..
I look forward to a full accounting on both sides of the events of that day.
The loss of a young man’s life for whatever reason is horrendous. The loss of an exotic animal is no small one either.
Should both losses be the complete responsibility of the zoo? Some would already cast their vote that way. That’s fine.
I would like to see the physical evidence produced,, the vodka bottle if it exists, the pics on the cell phone, the large rock found in the enclosure, the footprint on top of the fence, and also blood evidence of some sort. We already know the height of the wall that was supposedly breeched.
I agree. The zoo bears responsibility for any lapse in security. But I have no sympathy for those who “tug on Superman’s cape” so to speak.
If the “brothers” don’t hire a high profile (ok, slimy) lawyer, then how could they defend themselves against the disinformation put out by the zoo?
Remember all of these falsehoods from the zoo?
“Our wall is 19 feet... They dangled their legs over... There was a shoe in the moat... They aided the tiger in the escape... Possibly put a board into the moat so the tiger could get out... They taunted the tiger with slingshots...”
How could these two (presumably poor) brothers fight a multi-million dollar media campaign against the City of San Francisco by themselves?
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