Re: Activists demand changes at S.F. zoo
- From: chatnoir <wolfbat359a@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2007 06:16:53 -0800 (PST)
On Dec 29, 5:11 am, Pneuma <frank.sp...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Activists demand changes at S.F. zoo
TIGER EXHIBIT NEEDS UPGRADE, SOME URGE; OTHERS SAY CLOSE IT
By Patrick May and John Woolfolk
Mercury News
Article Launched: 12/29/2007 01:41:20 AM PST
Outraged animal activists are calling for a range of responses to this week's
deadly tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo, from improved security and
conditions at the exhibit to its complete closure.
"Because of the findings that the wall around the exhibit was the wrong
height, we're asking the zoo to close down that tiger pen," said San Francisco
veterinarian Elliot Katz, founder and president of San Rafael-based In Defense
of Animals.
"These tigers should be sent to a sanctuary and not be around the public
anymore," he added. "The zoo has set up a dangerous situation."
Zoo officials did not return calls Friday.
Revelations Thursday that the exhibit's moat wall was 4 feet below accepted
safety standards seemed to add fuel to the already fired-up chorus from
animal-rights groups around the country.
According to Pat Derby, co-founder of Performing Animal Welfare Society, or
PAWS, putting tigers on display is so harmful to the animals and so dangerous
to the humans who come to watch that this week's attack almost seemed
inevitable.
"These are wild animals, and they're meant to be in the wild," said Derby, who
runs three Northern California sanctuaries to protect abused, abandoned and
retired captive animals. "When you put them in any enclosed space, you change
everything - their biology, their nature, their personality - everything. So
when it comes to their behavior, all bets are off."
Earlier in the week, zoo officials defended the safety and conditions of their
large-cat exhibits, accusing critics of exploiting a tragedy that resulted in
the Christmas Day mauling death of San Jose teenager Carlos Souza and injuries
to two of his friends. Zoo officials initially said the wall was 18 feet high.
It's still unclear how the 350-pound Siberian tiger escaped from its pen and
what, if anything, the men may have done to aggravate the animal beforehand.
Responding to earlier criticism from Katz and others, San Francisco Zoo
spokesman Paul Garcia said "it's an opportunity for those anti-zoo people to
magnify something tragic."
Katz has been a regular critic of the zoo's practices, leading the call to
close its elephant exhibit after the deaths of two pachyderms in 2004. The zoo
has since moved its remaining elephants to a PAWS sanctuary. And Katz remains
particularly critical of the way the zoo publicly feeds its cats, which he
said creates extra aggression among the cats.
"It creates a very negative feel between the tiger and humans there and the
keeper," he said. "Most zoos don't do this. At the San Francisco Zoo, they
make a whole spectacle of it."
Katz said such behavior likely triggered the attack by the same Siberian tiger
on a keeper during feeding time a year ago. Zoo officials closed the lion
house after that attack and did not reopen it until September, when the public
feedings resumed.
Katz is not alone in his concerns. Equating the crowd-pleasing feedings to
"circus tricks," a spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
said her group had formally asked the zoo to "phase out" the tiger exhibit by
halting any further breeding of the cats.
"PETA is opposed to holding wild animals in captivity altogether," said Lisa
Wathne, an exotic animal specialist with the activist group. "But there are
some species which fare far worse than others in captivity, tigers and
elephants among them."
Like her fellow critics, Wathne suspects the victims may have taunted the
tiger before it somehow escaped and went after them. "I think this was a tiger
being a tiger. No one should be surprised when wild animals in captivity take
the opportunity to escape and then act on their natural instincts."
Derby, who worked as an animal trainer for years on Southern California film
sets, said she was struck this week by the deliberate and calculated way the
tiger went after her victims.
"We track these incidents, and when tigers escape from a circus they'll
usually run under a wagon because they're terrified and their first instinct
is to hide," she said. "This cat seemed to be on a mission. I think those
three young men may have been tormenting and teasing her and it became
personal."
Police are investigating that possibility.
Derby recalls times at circuses when people would poke and prod a tiger, and
"when the cat gets out he goes right for the guy who was poking him.
"They're not stupid," she said. "They know."
Contact Patrick May at p...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or 408-920-5689.
The Zoo should be gutted! A Huge hole dug! People then then watch as
Punks are driven into the hole, which is full of tigers! There they
will sit in the vehicles with no food or water - Till they try and
escape!:
http://immenseworlds.blogspot.com/2007/09/tiger-attack-on-tour.html
.
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- Activists demand changes at S.F. zoo
- From: Pneuma
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