Tiger attacks kindergartner at Scotts Valley school

Sacramento Bee ^ | 9/20/02 | NA

[Carry_Okie]

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. (AP) - A tiger attacked a kindergartner at a school assembly Friday, sending the 6-year-old boy to a hospital.

The tiger was being led out of an auditorium at Baymonte Christian School by its trainer when it suddenly lurched over a row of seats and grabbed the boy by the head in its jaws, Scotts Valley Police Capt. Harry Bidleman said.

[Bernard]

If tigers are outlawed, then only outlaws will have tigers ...

[kms61]

No, you're doing exactly the same thing you abhor in the enviros by projecting human values onto a wild animal. The tiger was being a tiger. The only ones to blame are the handlers and the school administrators. Just illustrates the point that private schoolers are susceptible to stupidity too. If my kid went there I would be looking for another school posthaste.

Imagine the furor on FR if it had been a public school.

[Carry_Okie]

Naw, Borland took over the Santa's Village property. Baymonte is within a quater mile of it on the same side of 17 right at the end of the Granite Creek bridge.

[Carry_Okie]

Imagine the furor on FR if it had been a public school.

It's a good school, but in this instance it is suffering from the same disease.

[eastforker]

you are talking about the handlers,not the animals,correct.A tiger can never be domesticated,nor should it.I do love animals but,they are wild,will kill and that is okay as long as they are in thier envirnoment.Don't pet the kitty and don't imprison it in a cage,let it run free,catch it's food,and live another day.

[ErnBatavia]

BTW, a lot of upper-middle class lesbians live here too.

Well, the lawns are well manicured then.....

[SierraWasp]

I thought of you instantly when I heard this story on the news! Was the tiger's name "Tony?" (grrrrrEAT!!!)

The poor kid only got lacerations, plus gobbs of trauma!

Our kids only have to worry about being eaten by Mountain Lions during their long walk to the bus shed in the spring when we change to daylight savings time to help Gray Davis "Flex Your Power by making conservation a way of life!"

[HairOfTheDog]

Tigers are vermin and should be exterminated? Because they are a carnivore? - And you Doe, are a vegetarian, then, right?

[Carry_Okie]

What was Patterson thinking, bringing a tiger into a school?

He clearly wasn't.

Are there not other ways to reward children than bringing wild animals into a school?

There is a whole culture around this kind of thing, starting with Animal Planet and extending personal contact from shark petting to demonstrations with venemous snakes. The message is the same:

They're really not as bad as people think, they're just misunderstood. They need our protection. Give us money to protect them and spread the message. If I hear that parents from this school are demanding that the tiger be put down, Patterson will be to blame for the death of an innocent animal.

I would doubt that. I promise you, this might be the worst night of Steve Patterson's life. The man has personally taken that school from a failed program to a beacon for Christians of all denominations whose only other option is a pubelick skewel in Santa Cruz County. He paints classrooms, he plays basketball with the kids, he always has time for parents, and has always treated me with respect. His Biblical scholarship is excellent.

The guy has my prayers. At least he had the presence of mind to pull the kid out of the cat's jaws. Not everybody would do that.

[Doe Eyes]

Tigers are vermin and should be exterminated? Because they are a carnivore? - And you Doe, are a vegetarian, then, right?

Hey, don't go all liberal on me. You need to go hunting.

[Carry_Okie]

They have that problem in Scotts Valley too. A cat was spotted on the outside of the play-yard fence at Vine Hill School only a couple of years ago.

[Carry_Okie]

LOL! Indeed they are.

[Dog Gone]

Hey, when I posted this story, the Moderator exiled it to Chat. Harumph.

[sinkspur]

Everybody's entitled to a few mistakes. This one was a doozy.

[Carry_Okie]

Playing a game of cat and mouse with the AM again, sirrah?

[Carry_Okie]

Playing a game of cat and mouse with the AM again, sirrah?,p> Excuse me, in this case that should have been "sahib."

My apologies to the forum.

[Billthedrill]

I wonder how much they'd want to visit my company...

[gargoyle]

...Exterminated any venison lately? Or were you refering to environmentalists and ethologists...

[Dog Gone]

My thread was way cooler. It had pictures of the actual tiger.

Neener neener neeeeeener.

[HairOfTheDog]

I will and have gone hunting, and I eat a lot of meat. But I don't see the animals as vermin, and I hope they are not exterminated. You said that. The world you paint with that statement is not a real pleasant picture.