Tiger Mauling in San Fran zoo

[Osiris]

Allow me to interject some levity into this thread that gives one point to the big cats...

When I lived in Kansas City, I was an Executive Member of The Friends of the Kansas City Zoo. My girlfriend at the time and I had a Thursday morning ritual of getting to the zoo right at opening when the animals were still frisky. One thing veteran zoo goers knew was that you visited the Great Cat House last as it was usually just cleaned and the cats were trying to "remark" their territory.

On this paritcular Thursday, the zoo keepers were late cleaning the cages. so we still went, but made sure we stayed well back from the railings. Enter Billy Bob Backwoods who was not only running along the railings and yelling "Look at them!!!" Well now he came to Lawrence the oldest largest of the tigers at the zoo. He was standing at the rail yelling just as he entered the cage. We sarted telling the guy "BACK UP NOW!" He looked at us like we were crazy until Lawrence raised his leg and "claimed" him as part of his territory. The man now covered in the spray from a tiger went screaming to the nearest bathroom with a zoo keeper running behind and a group of us trying not to laugh hilariously at his plight.

Like I said, score one for the cats.

 

[Beef Stroganoff]

The way I see it there are over 6 billion people in the world, give or take. Of that number, I'd say a good majority are just the type of morons what would taunt a tiger at the zoo given half a chance. Subtracting about 2 billion people from this number (because I got laid last night and am feeling generous), that leaves 1 billion+ morons in the world. Now, there aren't nearly that many tigers in the world as they are being pushed into smaller and smaller habitats by mankind's rapacious need for more land and, in particular, the asian need for a harder penis. So all things considered - the overabundance of inane assholes in the world and the extreme diminishment of a viable tiger population - I think the tiger did the world a favour.

 

[SpeedoGuy]

!" He looked at us like we were crazy until Lawrence raised his leg and "claimed" him as part of his territory. The man now covered in the spray from a tiger went screaming to the nearest bathroom with a zoo keeper running behind and a group of us trying not to laugh hilariously at his plight.

I saw something like that happen at the San Francisco Zoo, although it was about 35 years ago.

A tiger can spray out an impressive stream of urine almost instantaneously.

 

[bigcurious]

How hard is it to keep a tiger locked up???? If they are going to take the creature out of it's natural habitat why don't they just make sure the enclosure is sufficient for the job? Another it's a wild animal gone wrong.. the people in charge should be held accountable, that would discourage any further lapses in security I'm sure.

If you're not a lawyer, you should be. If, in fact, the animal was taunted, it's totally the fault of the so called 'victims' and it should be left at that. What I see, if there is a up-coming court-case, if there's no video or eye-witness evidence to the contrary, the 'victims' will be awarded huge sums of money based upon their own victim-impact lives.

 

[SpeedoGuy]

If, in fact, the animal was taunted, it's totally the fault of the so called 'victims' and it should be left at that.

No, its not totally the victims' fault. The boys may have contributed but, regardless, a zoo is still responsible for keeping the animals safely separated from the visitors no matter what else happens.

Animals can sometimes interpret innocuous human behavior as a challenge and become mistakenly enraged. If an escaped tiger mauled a completely innocent visitor who was doing nothing more than blow his nose would that make it the victim's fault? Of course not.

 

[deleted26151]

Havnt read all the posts but isnt it a bit harsh to say they deserved to die?? like for fooling around.

Ok I would take no pleasure in teasing a caged animal, I hate seeing animals locked up full stop. maybe they had been drinking or summit?

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

If the boys had been taunting a tiger in the wilds of India they might have expected to be mauled/eaten, they thought they were taunting a tiger that was safely enclosed so it's not entirely their fault. They were stupid thoughtless boys, how many of us were stupid and thoughtless when we were teenagers and but for the grace of god we could all probably have died a number of times doing something stupid.

 

[Skull Mason]

No, its not totally the victims' fault. The boys may have contributed but, regardless, a zoo is still responsible for keeping the animals safely separated from the visitors no matter what else happens.

Yeah, I am not sure why some people here don't get this. Its like if you go to visit prison for a class, and they take you past the holding cells and one of the inmates breaks out and stabs you in the neck. I don't give a shit if you were taunting him or not, it is the jails responsibility to ensure that no inmate breaks out and stabs you in the neck for looking at him funny.

 

[Osiris]

The truth has finally come out.

One of the three men involved in this incident has finally come forward and admitted they were shouting and waving at the tiger, but still say they threw nothing at it. It is also being reported that at least one of them had a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit and all of them were stoned at the time as well.

Again, you can't fix stupid.

 

[Gillette]

What really surprises me is that the zoo had no video surveillance of the grounds. The exhibits and the animals are costly assets that I would expect the facility would want to protect.

What's to prevent someone throwing in foods that could make an animal sick, or even an object it could choke on?

If they'd had cameras this process would not have taken so long.

 

[Osiris]

What really surprises me is that the zoo had no video surveillance of the grounds. The exhibits and the animals are costly assets that I would expect the facility would want to protect.

What's to prevent someone throwing in foods that could make an animal sick, or even an object it could choke on?

If they'd had cameras this process would not have taken so long.

It really isn't that surprising. Zoos in the US are amazingly underfunded and a lot of them are crumbling and have ages old enclosures that are not conducive to maintaining the longevity and health of it's residents. So for an older zoo like San Francisco, putting in a camera system would costr much more than they probably have available in revenue. Unless you are the National Zoo in Washington DC that draws millions due to the pandas or the San Diego Zoo that draws millions due to the koalas, you are probably below budget on your revenue.

One of the best examples of enclosure that take into account teh safety of the people and the health and welfare of the animals is the Africa Exhibit at the Kansas City Zoo:

Kansas City Zoological Gardens - Africa Exhibit

This was the brainchild of a prolific zoo curator they had in the 90's by the name of Mark Wourms. I worked with him on finishing touches to these exhibits. It was one of the perks of being a member of the Friends of the Zoo. The exhibit is impressive and sits on acres of land. The African Veldt has been recreated and the animals have plenty of room to roam and behave just as they would in the wild, of course without the being able to hunt down other animals.

As wonderful and ahead of it's time these exhibits were, Wourms came under fire for massive budget overages and at one point even dropped his salary to fund these exhibits. Later he left, but his legacy continues.

To bring our zoos up to date and make them truly healthy environs for the animals, I highly suggest everyone get involved with your local zoo's fund raising programs. Iam still an adopted parent to a Red Panda at the Kansas City Zoo thanks to the Adopt-A-Wild-Child program.

Save our zoos and make them better to avoid this sort of disaster in future.

 

[SpeedoGuy]

What really surprises me is that the zoo had no video surveillance of the grounds. The exhibits and the animals are costly assets that I would expect the facility would want to protect.

More money for zoos or wildlife refuges or national parks would require taxpayers to cough up a few extra dollars and we can't have that.

Much better to piss money away in the middle east.

 

[earllogjam]

More money for zoos or wildlife refuges or national parks would require taxpayers to cough up a few extra dollars and we can't have that.

Much better to piss money away in the middle east.

Hold on now, W's answer is to send all the zoo animals to the Middle East. Kill two birds with one stone.

 

[simbasa12]

The truth has finally come out.

One of the three men involved in this incident has finally come forward and admitted they were shouting and waving at the tiger, but still say they threw nothing at it. It is also being reported that at least one of them had a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit and all of them were stoned at the time as well.

Again, you can't fix stupid.

No, those boys did much more than taunt from the railing. Tiger exhibit for 40 years there and never a problem. Taunting happens on a daily basis at zoos....

So what did these boys do that was so special to piss off the Tiger to get her to climb a 12 foot wall and chase them? It does not matter if the height was 12 feet or the recommended 16 feet. The Tiger would still have gotten out. Her claws were broken climbing the wall....Another 4 feet would not have been any problem. She was pissed off.