Tiger Attack at San Francisco Zoo
By now I bet all of you have heard about the horrific attack that occurred on Christmas morning in San Francisco. A 300 pound tiger named Tatiana somehow got out of her enclosure, attacked 3 people - killing one of them. What absolutely amazes me is how clueless the zoo seems to be as to how the tiger escaped. Her pen is surrounded by a 15 foot wide moat and 22 foot high cement barrier wall. Officials at the zoo say she did not get out through a door, so she must have somehow gotten over the moat and up the barrier. As of right now, it is a mystery how that happened, but I am sure more information will become available soon.
Let me also say my deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences go out to the family whose son was killed by the tiger. I am sure they are anxious to hear the reasons behind the tiger’s escape and what the zoo plans on changing so this does not happen again.
Take a few minutes to watch this video, they are still pictures of a Siberian Tiger, and they really capture the beauty, elegance, and power of this animal:
As I am writing this to all of you, I am thinking of the zoo here in Saint Louis, and of course it is only natural to wonder how safe it really is…….In the wake of this tragedy, I am sure some good will come of it. Zoos across the country will be inspecting their enclosures and making any necessary updates to the structures. What I would like to know from you is where you live (what city and state) and how safe you think your zoo is. What do you think zoos could do to improve safety (for people as well as the animals)?
At the Saint Louis zoo a few years ago, there was a minor incident involving a Cheetah. One of the got out of the enclosure and zoo officials tracked down the animal after almost 30 minutes. No one was injured (the zoo was closed at the time), but this is just one example of how dangerous wild animals can be. Please leave me your comments, views, and stories of close calls at the zoo, or animals escaping. I am really interested in what you have to say about this, and what improvements you think zoos can make.
Thanks for reading! As always your participation in comments and discussions are encouraged and greatly appreciated!!
Posted in PetStrong
January 1st, 2008 at 09:02 am
The 2 survivors of the tiger attack aren’t telling what happened because they’re hoping to avoid punishment for their wrongdoing and perhaps even to profit from it. Since they haven’t fabricated a story yet, we have to read between the lines to figure out what happened. The older brother was attacked first, and he may have been inside the enclosure. Odds are he not only taunted, but also hurt the tiger in some way. Carlos Sousa and the younger brother helped him, but when the tiger turned on Carlos, the two brothers ran off leaving Carlos to be killed. The tiger chased down the remaining culprits because it was mad. If you hurt an animal, it WILL chase you down. The zoo will be thoroughly investigated and deficiencies will be found. The same deficiencies that have been there for over 40 years will be noted and large settlements will be the order of the day. Despite longstanding deficiencies, no other tigers have escaped during the past 40 years because until now, no punks tried to prove something by tormenting a tiger. We, as taxpayers, will pay dearly for the deficiencies found at the zoo, while the culprits who caused the tragic death of their friend and the needless killing of the tiger will be rewarded for their cruelty. We’ll keep trying to make the world safer while it gets more dangerous every day. The problem is, we can’t build zoos, or schools, or buildings secure enough to protect adequately as long as parents raise kids who think they have the right to torture animals at the zoo - or bully weaker kids at school - just for fun or to prove how big and bad they are. We want more security cameras, higher retaining walls, better metal detectors, more warning labels - when what we really need is for parents to teach kids to respect others, to have empathy, to be kind, to take responsibility, and to have self discipline. Better security will not keep people from getting hurt because bad people will always find a way to circumvent it.
January 2nd, 2008 at 09:49 pm
Blaming the victims won’t help here, because the zoo should have known to keep cameras on at all times, to post crowd control security guards, to maintain locations where people could go to hide during an attack; instead, they were locked out for three whole minutes while zoo personnell were deciding if it was a prank. The tiger wall was just over 12 feet, not the height that the zoo reported. The zoo had the weapons necessary to secure the tiger but failed to do so. The zoo did not sound an alarm or alert to protect the public from harm. It was about 20 minutes from time of report to cafe personnel until the police shot the tiger, according to the article I read in the New York Times. Like the Titanic, they had their head in the sand pretending no emergency would actually happen. Do you want to take your family there next weekend, baby in stroller, and admire the poor tigers, locked behind a 12 foot wall, where idiots can drop in and taunt them all day long? Do you really feel safe; no public hiding places, no alerts or alarms, no armed personnel readily available to help out? They are hiding behind locked doors, assuming that you are making a prank report. Good luck, and great gambling.
January 3rd, 2008 at 02:51 am
Everyone has been assuming that Carlos was involved. Every time I would try to defend him people would tell me to get my head of my ***. I grew up with Carlos.
He wasn’t that type of kid.
Finally a witness has come forward.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/02/MN9TU8AGC.DTL&tsp=1
WE LOVE AND MISS YOU CARLOS.
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 am
First of all, I don’t know why anyone would want go to a zoo to see caged animals. It’s not humane and it’s not their natural habitat. That tiger acted on instinct. She was threatened by those boys and she attacked them. Plain and simple. If she had the capability to escape that enclosure, she would have done so without reason. So why would she have done it that day? My regrets to the family who lost their son, but the whole scenario doesn’t add up. If escape was her intent, she would have kept going instead of hunting the other two boys down.
January 3rd, 2008 at 02:06 pm
Frankly, I feel really bad for the tiger. She was just doing what tigers do…especially if those kids used a slingshot to harass her. Is there a memorial fund in her name where one can make a donation???
January 8th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
RE: “Kathleen January 3rd, 2008 at 02:51 am”
Firstly folks, please don’t overreact to my handle, I am not brutal to animals. But, when push comes to shove, my rational self interest kicks in, and I say “humans first.” It’s called species loyalty, all members of species in touch with their inner “chi” understand this. I digress. I believe Kathleen. These young men did not deserve to be attacked. Fact to consider include the previous attack on the trainer, many repeated fears and suspicions over the past 60 years indicating the grotto is not safe (many tales told by ex employees about cats nearly making it out, claws almost over the lip of the wall types of incicendts, etc.) Then the zoo’s response - deny, delay then defame. They initially denied there was an escape, then, delayed the SFPD (because they knew that the SFPD would blow the cat’s head off and do the job they failed to do back in 2006), then have tried to defame the 3 young men. For shame! Someone needs to be arrested all right, starting at the top of the Zoo org.
January 10th, 2008 at 03:20 am
I would like to ask a question. If you took your 2 year old daughter/son to the zoo and she/he taped on the glass of the Polar Bear exhibit- which resulted in the Polar Bear breaking thought the glass then killing your daughter/son, How would you feel when others blamed you or your daughter/son for “taunting” or “provoking” the attack? Remember a former S.F. zookeeper has went public in stating that in the 60 ’s they did have a Tiger that jumped the moat, at that time they decided to fill the moat with water for a number of years for just such a reason. Frankly who gives a **** if the animal was taunted or not? Fact of the matter is that the zoo failed to provide adequate safety – even with their prior knowledge of the inadequacies of their sub-standard moat. On your next visit to the zoo I hope for you and your family’s safety that the zoo has anticipated any and all scenarios and acted accordingly in regards to safety measures. If not perhaps we need to taunt them into it!
January 10th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Ok, I would like to respond to Jason comment. There is a difference between a little girl (pure of thought) tapping on the glass of a polar bear exhibit and some punk kids (who know right from wrong) harassing this tiger. Now by no means am I justifying that the kid needed to die. My deepest thoughts to the parents, but you know what? If parents took a little more time to discipline there kids then stuff like this would not happen. Let’s just say that we as humans were not at the top of the food chain and we were on exhibit in some freaked environment, then all of a sudden you have a the same type of creature who captured you start to torment you. How would you feel then? Put yourself in the tiger’s paws. Now about the zoo. The zoo keepers should also be held responsible. No person of company should maintain any type of wild animal to be shown on display without having properly enclosed the animal. I don’t care if some person was throwing rocks and sticks at the tiger. It should IMPOSSIBLE for that animal to get as easy as it did.
January 11th, 2008 at 05:27 pm
The zoo is completely out of control. Over the past week, there have been two additional close calls. One involving a polar bear (!) and one involving a snow leopard. There seem to be two systemic issues:
1) Enclosures poorly designed and not easy for zoo keepers to operate.
2) Animals deeply depressed and neurotic (of course we would always expect a certain degree of this in any zoo, but SF Zoo seems worse than most.)
Urgent and drastic corrective action needed ASAP. A court should issue a restraining order to temporarily close the zoo, in order to protect public safety. Arrest zoo management.
January 12th, 2008 at 07:44 pm
Given all the “strange” activity at the zoo in recent days, has anyone looked at the possibility that the animals might be sensing something? It is a proven fact that animal behavior, strange as it may sometimes be, is a pure indicator that an event is about to occur. Now, given the geographical location of the zoo, maybe the animals are trying to warn their caretakers and/or the general public of a weather event or possibly an earthquake, larger in magnitude than the ones usually felt in that region. One can only hope its just a series of unfortunate events.
January 18th, 2008 at 01:37 pm
So according to the latest at CNN toxicology reports state the survivors had a high blood alchohol limit and were smoking pot. Wow they are just winners. If thats the case and it can be proven that they did indeed taunt the Tiger then kudos to Tatiana for killing that ignorant idiot and unfortunately she didn’t get to finish the other 2 idiot friends of his. Maybe one day in the future the Dhaliwals will get killed some other way. If I could meet this guys I just want to ask them: What do you expect from doing this? To live?? Grow up. RIP Tatiana
February 4th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
After reading and listening to thousands of reports, blogs, etc HERE IS MY SCENARIO OF WHAT REALLY HAPPENED…………
FACT: all 3 were drunk and had pot in their system
FACT: there is an eye witness (actually 4 if you include her husband and 2 kids) that witness 4 (FOUR!!!!) males at the tiger area
FACT: the shoe prints on the rail were identified as being the exact shoe print from the older brothers shoe
OK HERE WE GO>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The older brother got onto the rail..he had to be holding onto to something, and since there is no something to hold onto, he had to be holding onto SOMEONE….his brother. The guy slips (because he is drunk and not even a gymnist could really be stable walking on a 3″ or 4″ rail). He slips and falls, facefirst, hanging into the moat, but his brother is holding onto his feet/legs. The tiger is already pissed, (”ruffled fur”, agitated per witness statement), she jumps at the older brother, probably, maybe, maybe not, takes more than one jump…but she does make it and grabs at the nearest object…the head (making the head wounds on the older brother seen on many pictures), the tiger walks along this “human ladder”, the other brother had tiger cuts on his back.
And of course the tiger IS NOT going to turn around and attack them because she sees another “enemy” in front of her, on the other side of the railing. She goes by her instinct and attacks him. Maybe Carlos, the kid that died, ran a bit, maybe not.
During this time the two brothers had time to RUN while the tiger had her attention on their friend(HA!).
End of story…who cares about the medical help that took so long, etc, etc (we all know those answers - you can bet that I would never go into a situation that is not “under control” if I were a paramedic)
OR
You can believe this one:
The crack dealer was the 4th guy there. (1)why else would they drive to SF, at least 45 minutes away,on Xmas (2)single guys at a zoo - right….now single guys at a zoo with no security cameras, no police…RIGHT!!!
and possibly the goods (Crack Cocain) they had just gotten (that’s why there was no trace in their blood) got into the Tiger enclosure, which the tiger ate, became super Tiger, and jumped so encrediably high (even over the railing) and attacked the 1 person that wasn’t taunting her.!!!
September 22nd, 2008 at 01:23 pm
Its always hard to tell which part of these stories are true….