the holidays are a bitch...for siberian tigers...

[cookiepuss]

you might have heard that a tiger (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071226/ap_on_re_us/tiger_escapes&printer=1;_ylt=ApaABn2iNtwS8xvKYbinYSZH2ocA) got out at the SF zoo and snacked on a few people. one guy died.:(

what I thought was kinda interesting about the whole thing was that on Dec 22nd of last year (2006) that same tiger attacked a zoo keeper and tore up the zookeepers arm.

kinda odd that almost exactly one year later the same exact tiger gets out and goes on a rampage. is it something about this time of year that makes the tiger all stir crazy?

of course what the tiger did wasn't a rampage, she was just doing what tigers are suppose to do.

uh yeah, so any way, the zoo is closed. and at this point I'm not sure I ever wanna go visit that zoo again.

[abcdefz]

Shitty holiday for some. Can you imagine deciding to go to a zoo on Christmas Day and...? No way would you ever expect to be in actual
danger at a zoo if you behaved yourself.

[cookiepuss]

^indeed.

and perhaps the most unsettling part is they don't know how she escaped. they are still "evaluating" that part. so they've either underestimated the tiger's abilites or have inadequate enclosures...or both.




edit: ah now they think someone helped her out. What kind of moron with a death wish helps a tiger breakout of the zoo?

[abcdefz]

That boy was from San José, too. :(

[cookiepuss]

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, police found a shoe and blood in an area between the gate and the edge of the animal's 25- to 30-foot-wide moat, raising the possibility that one of the victims dangled a leg or other body part over the edge of the moat.

Police could not confirm the Chronicle's report to The Associated Press on Thursday.

"I don't think this deserves to happen to anybody — taunting or not taunting," Carlos Sousa (father of the boy who was killed) told ABC. "Animals should be protected from the people and the people should be protected from the animals."

yes and no. I kinda disagree. if you taunt an animal, and it attacks you I think you kinda deserve that...cause it's a totally preventable situation.

that said...i wouldn't nessessarily say that there isn't a margin of error in the design of the enclosures at that zoo either.

[Helvete]

I bet the kid who died wasn't following the rules. FUCKING IDIOT!

[abcdefz]

The thing that sucks is that, even if someone was taunting the tiger, the zoo is still liable.

[Helvete]

I know, and the poor tiger got shot because of this. What, for being a tiger?!

[cookiepuss]

I'm sure the cops that were first on the scene just about shit themselves. there was no way they wouldn't shoot the cat.

but that still sucks.(n)

[abcdefz]

Tiger, pit bull, whatever -- I have no problem with someone shooting an attacking animal.

[Randetica]

hope it was tony's alias

[abcdefz]

There's some nasty shit being posted on a local message board because the parents of the kid (and the kid?) are illegal aliens.

[cookiepuss]

^ what? well, that has nothing to do with him getting killed by a tiger. people are dumb shits.

[abcdefz]

No kidding.

It amazes me when I see the volume of stuff like that. Like, I know there are people like that out there, but every now and then I'm shocked
to see so many.

I don't think of myself as a naive person, but sometimes, I guess so.

[cookiepuss]

when you said local message boards did you mean Craigslist?

Boy, I'm really glad to know this moron lives in my town...:o :(

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/rnr/520722247.html

[abcdefz]

Mercury News. (http://pod01.prospero.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=mn-comments&tid=24415)

But, yeah -- stuff like that's been posted. Messages are getting deleted, though, so somebody's monitoring it. (y)

[cookiepuss]

damn. what an awful excuse to spew racism. not that there's an excuse for racism..but the fact that the thing some people choose to focus on in the story is the race of the people involved is pretty sad.

in other breaking news:

zoo officials now say the wall wasn't high enough.
SAN FRANCISCO - The director of the zoo where a teenager was killed by an escaped tiger acknowledged Thursday that the wall around the animal's pen was just 12 1/2 feet high — well below the height recommended by the main accrediting agency for the nation's zoos.

yeah it's probably cause the wall was built by wetbacks.:rolleyes:

[marsdaddy]

I think I read it differently in the SF Chronicle? I found the article here (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5405492.html) in the Chron: The enclosure is surrounded by a 25- to 30-foot-wide moat and a 14-foot-high wall. The first reports were that a tiger could not likely jump that far and high, without help.

Regardless of the wall, I also read that there were pine cones and other items found in the tiger enclosure that could only have been thrown there. So, if this plays out, the kids threw things are the tiger -- probably trying to get it to roar -- and when they dangled themselves over the wall, they created a step for the tiger to get out of it's enclosure. The tiger probably thought to herself, "it's feeding time and that's a big piece!"

It sucks, and definitely reminds me that the zoo shouldn't exist in the first place -- especially not for tigers, lions, or elephants. What would really suck is if any of the victims were innocent bystanders.

I also have no problem that, once the tiger got out, it had to be killed. It's a wild animal, not a rational thinking person.