San Francisco Zoo Tiger Attack

[Slaggis]

Fox Network

One person has been killed and two others injured after a tiger escaped from its cage at San Francisco Zoo.

 

All of the victims were visitors to the zoo, a spokesman for San Francisco emergency services said.

 

The Siberian tiger, named Tatiana, was the same one that mauled a keeper just before Christmas last year. It has now been shot dead.

 

The incident occurred as the zoo was closing around 1700 (0100 GMT). It is not clear how the cat escaped its pen.

 

Emergency services spokesman Lt Ken Smith said that they were called to the zoo at 1715 following a report that a person had been attacked by a tiger.

 

In response the zoo was evacuated and armed police officers and firefighters sent to the scene.

 

There were not many visitors to the zoo on Christmas Day, and it was dark by the time police arrived.

 

A police spokesman said officers found the dead body of one of the victims right outside the tiger's enclosure.

 

Tatiana attacked one of the zoo's keepers last year

 

 

Then they saw the second victim, spokesman Steve Mannina told the Associated Press news agency.

 

He was about 300 metres away, in front of a cafe, sitting on the ground, with blood running from gashes in his head.

 

Tatiana sat next to him, and suddenly attacked him again, Mr Mannina said.

 

Officers approached, and fired at the animal when it began to advance towards them.

 

The spokesman did not confirm, but it was reported the third victim was found in the cafe.

 

The three victims were men in their 20s, the spokesman said.

 

Past attack

 

The two injured people were described as being in a critical condition.

 

Margie Shafer, a reporter from local radio station KCBS, said that there were unconfirmed reports that the tiger had jumped a moat to make its escape.

 

San Francisco Zoo is home to both Siberian and Sumatran tigers.

 

In December 2006, a keeper at the zoo had her arm severely lacerated when Tatiana reached through the bars of her cage and mauled her during a public feeding.

 

As a result of that attack the zoo built a new feeding enclosure in its Lion House to protect the trainers as they carried out feedings.

 

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Zoo was closed to visitors Wednesday as police investigated a tiger attack they say may have been provoked by visitors' taunting the animal, leaving one man dead and two brothers injured.

 

Police searched the zoo to ensure there were no others injured and no more animals out of their cages after the Christmas day attack in which the 300-pound tiger, Tatiana, escaped its cage.

 

One witness said at least one of the victims had provoked the tiger, which had been out of its cage an estimated 15 to 20 minutes, police said. Tatiana also ripped the flesh off a zookeeper's arm just before Christmas 2006.

 

Update

The zoo director, Manuel Mollinedo, and a city official who was monitoring the matter strongly suggested that the tiger must have been lured or provoked and somehow assisted, perhaps inadvertently, to scale a barrier that had never before been breached.

 

“Something happened to get that cat agitated, to do what it did,” Mr. Mollinedo said. “She was a very mellow cat. I never saw her down in that moat, although she has access to it. Something triggered her to jump out of there, or she grabbed onto something and pulled herself over.”

 

Mr. Mollinedo said he rushed to the zoo on Tuesday and arrived about 15 minutes after the police. “My first reaction was that one of the staff left the gate open, but I feel comfortable in saying there was no keeper error,” he said.

 

In June, the state fined the zoo $18,000 for a “serious accident related” safety violation stemming from a mauling of a keeper by the same tiger last December. The authorities criticized the zoo for its facility and procedures.

 

Mr. Mollinedo said that he had not seen a police report about Tuesday’s events but that he believed, in part based on a discussion with a crime site investigator, that there was blood outside the animal exhibit and blood spots were seen along one of the walkways near a trail leading to the cafe, where the injured brothers were found.

 

“That tells me there was more than one person at the exhibit when the tiger escaped,” he said.

 

He said it appeared that the dead teenager and the injured men knew one another. The brothers’ testimony will be crucial, he said. But shortly after the attack, when police officers tried to get their names, “they refused to cooperate,” Mr. Mollinedo said.

 

When zoo employees realized a tiger was loose, he said, “the zoo shooting team was assembling” with tranquilizer guns. “But when police saw the weapon, they took it away. They had taken control of the scene.”

[The Bard]

Well...I guess it's revenge for being locked in a cage for the majority of it's life, and you can't really blame the tiger...so I don't see why they couldn't have released it into the wild...what with it being of a dwindling species as it is...Tigers are purdy

[Solo]

I saw this on the news, I lol'ed! I mean imagine, they're sitting in the zoo cafe and bam! Suddenly there's one pissed off tiger kicking ass and taking names, haha!

[Charlie]

I saw this on the news, I lol'ed! I mean imagine, they're sitting in the zoo cafe and bam! Suddenly there's one pissed off tiger kicking ass and taking names, haha!

 

I'm sure their families are lol'ing too....

[Cube]

Poor tiger.

 

If they find out who made the mistake then (s)he should be shot too.

[or else you will DIE]

no need to kill the tiger.

[Ellmeister]

Simlar attack from another zoo occurred the other day. A man stuck his hand inside a tiger pen or something to get a good camera shot and the tiger came over and ripped his arm off (I think ) and he died through bloodloss. All down to someone making a stupid mistake. Not nice hearing about the innocent casualties though

[danny]

Well...I guess it's revenge for being locked in a cage for the majority of it's life, and you can't really blame the tiger...so I don't see why they couldn't have released it into the wild...what with it being of a dwindling species as it is...Tigers are purdy

 

 

Get a grip one person was dead another 2 half dead. As if they care about the animal at this point. The top priority has to be the preservation of human life. If i was an armed copper and a tiger was coming towards me i would not be thinking. Hey maybe i dont need to kill this tiger maybe...... o wait i would be dead right about now.

And as for revenge for being kept in a cage. These animals need to be in captivity. The species isnt going to survive in the wild. There are to many man made problems for them in the wild. Keeping animals in captivaty is the only hope of keeping these species alive. In captivity they can be protected and looked after. In the wild they can not.

[Slaggis]

I would, if I saw a tiger coming towards me, I'd first think to either move out the way, run etc. If I was being attacked etc, then I'd have to shoot it yes.

 

Anyways, as you say there are so many made made problems for them we have had to throw them into a cage for people to stare at day in day out. So, I'd be a little pissed if the same thing happened to me. The tiger did not deserve to be shot. They could have got it with tranq dart and taken it to a different zoo, larger enclosure. It couldn't be released to the wild because it's been in captivity all it's life I would have thought.

 

It's not the animal that should have been shot, it's the careless workers at the zoo that should have been.

[danny]

I would, if I saw a tiger coming towards me, I'd first think to either move out the way, run etc. If I was being attacked etc, then I'd have to shoot it yes.

 

Anyways, as you say there are so many made made problems for them we have had to throw them into a cage for people to stare at day in day out. So, I'd be a little pissed if the same thing happened to me. The tiger did not deserve to be shot. They could have got it with tranq dart and taken it to a different zoo, larger enclosure. It couldn't be released to the wild because it's been in captivity all it's life I would have thought.

 

It's not the animal that should have been shot, it's the careless workers at the zoo that should have been.

 

You cant get out of the way when you are trying to save peoples lives.

Your living in a dream world. People who have wounds like that tiger had need to be seen to straight away. Every second can count. Even if it was the last tiger in the world you cant waste time fucking about for a tranq gun when someone is lieing dieing.

[Slaggis]

You cant get out of the way when you are trying to save peoples lives.

Your living in a dream world. People who have wounds like that tiger had need to be seen to straight away. Every second can count. Even if it was the last tiger in the world you cant waste time fucking about for a tranq gun when someone is lieing dieing.

 

In a Zoo, you wouldn't need to "fuck about" for a tranq gun, the zoo keepers looking after the tiger would most probably have one on them and they'd probably be easier to get gold of than a real gun. Animals are too easy to blame, they didn't kill that person, the careless workers did.

[danny]

In a Zoo, you wouldn't need to "fuck about" for a tranq gun, the zoo keepers looking after the tiger would most probably have one on them and they'd probably be easier to get gold of than a real gun. Animals are too easy to blame, they didn't kill that person, the careless workers did.

 

You obviasly have never worked in a Zoo. I have. You obviasly have never done a job where you have to be ready to put your life on the line at any moment i do.

Zoos dont always have tranqualiser guns at the ready. The zoo i worked at had to have a rhino shot as they did not have a tranqualiser gun.

This was in america all police are armed. Therefore i very much doubt a tranqualiser gun is easier to come by than a real gun.

Wether the animal deserved to die is irrelevent. People were lieing dieing. The animal had to be stoped.

[Emasher]

If the animal was attacking people it needed to be stopped the quickest way possible.

 

Just saw this on the news. Pretty sad.

[Slaggis]

I agree it had to be stopped, yet I still believe they could have just as easily used a tranquliser gun. But we aren't going to agree on that so we might aswell agree to disagree.

 

News Update on FoxNews (Television in America/Website)

 

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Zoo was closed to visitors Wednesday as police investigated a tiger attack they say may have been provoked by visitors' taunting the animal, leaving one man dead and two brothers injured.

 

Police searched the zoo to ensure there were no others injured and no more animals out of their cages after the Christmas day attack in which the 300-pound tiger, Tatiana, escaped its cage.

 

One witness said at least one of the victims had provoked the tiger, which had been out of its cage an estimated 15 to 20 minutes, police said. Tatiana also ripped the flesh off a zookeeper's arm just before Christmas 2006.

[danny]

I agree it had to be stopped, yet I still believe they could have just as easily used a tranquliser gun. But we aren't going to agree on that so we might aswell agree to disagree.

 

 

They couldnt though. Cops arnt armed with tranq guns. So it isnt just as easy. And despite what you see in films these guns dont work in an instant. Meanwhile some poor guy is still bleeding to death.

If a dog mawls a child it gets put down simple as.

[Slaggis]

They couldnt though. Cops arnt armed with tranq guns. So it isnt just as easy. And despite what you see in films these guns dont work in an instant. Meanwhile some poor guy is still bleeding to death.

If a dog mawls a child it gets put down simple as.

 

No offence, but there is a slight difference between a dog and a tiger. A dog is not meant to be a dangerous meat eating creature, a tiger is. You don't expect to see a dog and have to run for your life, so when one does start to attack and injure people, yes it should be put down. (As long as it hasn't been provoked/trained that way etc). A tiger is meant to kill things, it's a predator thats it's instinct. So comparing a dog attack to a tiger attack is a little strange.

 

I'm one of those people that considers the life of an animal the same as that of a human in most cases. (See the debate on animal testing a few pages back and you'll see my view - but thats not the point of this thread...so no debate about that please lol ).

 

If the tiger was (if it turns out to be true) provoked by the victim, that thats their fault, and they were gambling with their life anyway. If it wasn't, and the cage door was left open by some crappy worker then the worker should also be shot.

[Eenuh]

I think you're being a bit unrealistic here Haggis.

Sure it would've been nice if they'd tranquillized the tiger instead of shooting it, but honestly, in a situation like this I don't blame them for shooting. Tranquillizer guns aren't always available, and I bet when there's an upset tiger running loose in your zoo, the first thing on your list to take care of is the people in the zoo, not the animal that is running around attacking those people. This has nothing to do with who is at fault (and even though I love animals more than people, I find it very upsetting to hear you say some people who are at fault should be shot).

 

If you see a tiger sitting right next to a victim, and attacking that victim again, then it is your duty as a cop to protect that person, as well as protect your own life. No matter how endangered the animal is.

[Slaggis]

(and even though I love animals more than people, I find it very upsetting to hear you say some people who are at fault should be shot).

 

A few others have said this too Eenuh, I mean, whoever left the cage open has killed the poor guy that died, and caused the endangered tiger to get shot. I completely understand the police officers decision to shoot the animal if they didn't have any other way available. What I'm trying to get across is they should have been able to have another way of stopping the tiger available to them, and in a better scenario the person looking after the tiger wouldn't have been hired in the first place.

[Eenuh]

A few others have said this too Eenuh, I mean, whoever left the cage open has killed the poor guy that died, and caused the endangered tiger to get shot. I completely understand the police officers decision to shoot the animal if they didn't have any other way available. What I'm trying to get across is they should have been able to have another way of stopping the tiger available to them, and in a better scenario the person looking after the tiger wouldn't have been hired in the first place.

 

Yeah but that's just wishful thinking or trying to live in a utopian place. Mistakes are made every day, some worse than the other. You can't go back in time and change what you did. And if this comes down to carelessness from a zookeeper, I'm sure they'll get some kind of punishment. But still wanting them to get shot as well is just downright wrong. =/

[weeyellowbloke]

I don't think there was much choice in the matter either. From the reports I saw the tiger had just mauled one guy and had turned its attentions on the police who were trying to get the guy away to safety. If you're an armed cop and you suddenly have a pissed off tiger coming towards you then you're not going to wait around for someone to arrive with a tranquilizer.

 

I did like the report on BBC News 24. They had an interview with a 'tiger expert' who's two cents were "Yes, it's not usually the sort of thing you expect to happen in a cafe".........no shit sherlock.

[Slaggis]

A tiger expert said that? I wish I'd have seen that, I don't get why when events like this happen they rush in these "experts" off the street.

 

Oh and (big!)apologies if I've offended you Eenuh, but thats just my view.

[gaggle64]

I feel bad for the victims, but it's difficult not to feel sorry for the tiger most of all. Such a powerful, wild animal being caged up, it's the sort of thing that only seems inevitable once it's happend. Like Siegfried and Roy when their tiger attacked them. You mess around with these kinds of powerful wild animals, you get what's coming to you.

 

Having said that, it brings to mind this piece of footage I saw on TV once, one of those "Worlds Most Amazing" shows. There was the guy at a zoo who had taken to prising open a crocdiles jaws and sticking his head inside, to thrill the daily punters, clearly somewhat to discomfort of the crocodile. Apprently he had done it many times before, but this time the crocodile evidentally decided enough was enough and just clamped right down on his head and wouldn't let go. They eventually managed to free the guy without hurting the crocodile too much, leaving the man with some painful but minor headwounds. I actually cheered the crocodile, and all I could think was "Yeah, he got what was bloody coming to him."

[Slaggis]

Update

 

The zoo director, Manuel Mollinedo, and a city official who was monitoring the matter strongly suggested that the tiger must have been lured or provoked and somehow assisted, perhaps inadvertently, to scale a barrier that had never before been breached.

 

“Something happened to get that cat agitated, to do what it did,” Mr. Mollinedo said. “She was a very mellow cat. I never saw her down in that moat, although she has access to it. Something triggered her to jump out of there, or she grabbed onto something and pulled herself over.”

 

Mr. Mollinedo said he rushed to the zoo on Tuesday and arrived about 15 minutes after the police. “My first reaction was that one of the staff left the gate open, but I feel comfortable in saying there was no keeper error,” he said.

 

In June, the state fined the zoo $18,000 for a “serious accident related” safety violation stemming from a mauling of a keeper by the same tiger last December. The authorities criticized the zoo for its facility and procedures.

 

Mr. Mollinedo said that he had not seen a police report about Tuesday’s events but that he believed, in part based on a discussion with a crime site investigator, that there was blood outside the animal exhibit and blood spots were seen along one of the walkways near a trail leading to the cafe, where the injured brothers were found.

 

“That tells me there was more than one person at the exhibit when the tiger escaped,” he said.

 

He said it appeared that the dead teenager and the injured men knew one another. The brothers’ testimony will be crucial, he said. But shortly after the attack, when police officers tried to get their names, “they refused to cooperate,” Mr. Mollinedo said.

 

When zoo employees realized a tiger was loose, he said, “the zoo shooting team was assembling” with tranquilizer guns. “But when police saw the weapon, they took it away. They had taken control of the scene.”

 

Wow, so it wasn't the fact a door was left open afterall. It looks as though the two in injured brothers and the dead guy were actually provoking the tiger causing it to escape.

 

If it turns out to be true, then it's their own stupid fault for provoking it.

[fex]

Thats a shame, for the tiger. It would of been ideal to stop it, though a tranq or any other none fatal methods.

 

R.I.P.

________

MOTORCYCLE TIRES

Edited April 28, 2011 by fex