Posted on 01/12/2008 7:22:07 AM PST by Mr. Brightside
Zoo safety questioned again after leopard, polar bear nearly escape
Saturday, January 12, 2008
(01-11) 13:38 PST San Francisco -- Revelations that a polar bear and a snow leopard came close to escaping from their enclosures at the San Francisco Zoo over the past week renewed questions Friday about the safety of visitors and workers at the facility, several zookeepers said.
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The zookeepers said the latest incidents made them fearful for their safety and called into question whether visitors are safe.
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Zoo officials acknowledged Friday morning that a 100-pound male snow leopard named Ghurka ripped a 4-inch hole in a mesh cage Thursday and stuck his paw and part of his head through the gash...
But one of the zoo employees who spoke with The Chronicle insisted it was not a routine event.
"I'd like to say that the snow leopard event is not unusual and wouldn't have attracted any attention had it not been for Tatiana (escaping), but that's not the case," the source said. "It's disgusting, and bad decisions are being made."
Perhaps more frightening was the recent behavior of a polar bear named Ulu.
Separate zookeepers and other employees have told The Chronicle that the animal, who weighs more than 600 pounds, nearly climbed over a wall of her exhibit on Jan. 3 - the first day the zoo was open after the Christmas Day tiger attack - when zoo officials pelted her with empty tranquilizer darts in a misguided effort to harass her into entering a night enclosure. The incident happened around 9 p.m. the night before last week's major storm, and the bear's keepers were not called in to help, the sources said.
Ulu was forced back down the exhibit wall by officials who turned a fire hose on her, the sources said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Sounds like San Fran is about to lose a zoo. No biggie—they have lots of other entertainment options in the barbaric arena.
Gosh Folks! Whadda ya expect???
It’s SAN FRANSICKO — NOTHING works there except the needle exchange program, the civil service check disbursement dept and the laws of nature regarding the spread of STDs....
Cheers!
Sounds like zoo management does not have many friends among the employees.
I think that management is going to take a beating once employees and former employees start giving sworn testimony.
WWF?
Why would the World Wrestling Federation comment?
;-)
The 2006 Tatiana event probably only got in the HEADLINES because patrons were present.
THe bottom line...What's the sense of the breeding program if they are not put back into the wild to reproduce in their own environment. Oh, yeah....MONEY!!
Here in Cincinnati a few years ago a polar bear ripped the arm of a zoo keeper off as she offered it a grape.
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