Re: Police Open Criminal Probe in Tiger Attack

On Dec 29, 3:59 pm, jbello <jbello....@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Dec 26, 11:18 pm, "Chocolic" <chatter...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:



SAN FRANCISCO - The San FranciscoZoowas closed to visitors Wednesday as
police investigated atigerattack they say may have been provoked by
visitors' taunting the animal, leaving one man dead and two brothers
injured.

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

One witness said at least one of the victims had provoked thetiger, 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.

When officers arrived after responding to the 911 call, they "saw atiger
sitting next to a person who was sitting on the ground," Police Chief
Heather Fong said.

They then "yelled at the animal to stop. They did not fire immediately. ...
when the yelling was occurring the animal turned toward the officers" and
that's when the officers shot thetiger, she said.

Fong said officers conducted four searches of thezooafter the attack.

"We are confident there are no additional victims," she said.

Fong said the department has opened a criminal investigation to "determine
if there was human involvement in thetigergetting out or if thetigerwas
able to get out on its own."

Police said they have not ruled anything out, including whether the escape
was the result of carelessness or a deliberate act.
Fong said officers were gathering evidence from thetiger'senclosure as
well as accounts from witnesses and others.

Onezooofficial insisted thetigerdid not get out through an open door and
must have climbed or leaped out. But Jack Hanna, former director of the
ColumbusZooand a frequent guest on TV, said such a leap would be an
unbelievable feat, and "virtually impossible."

"There's something going on here. It just doesn't feel right to me," he
said. "It just doesn't add up to me."
Instead, he speculated that visitors might have been fooling around and
might have taunted the animal and perhaps even helped it get out by, say,
putting a board in the moat.

ZooDirector Manuel Mollinedo said thezooplanned to bring in outside
experts to evaluate the exhibits' safety and conduct thorough analysis of
existing outdoor cat exhibits . to ensure animal safety and public safety."
Mollinedo said he hoped to have thezooopen on Thursday.

The three men - one of them 19 years old and the others in their early 20s -
were attacked just after 5 p.m. Tuesday on the east end of the 125-acrezoo
grounds near Ocean Beach, police spokesman Steve Mannina said.

The two survivors were upgraded from serious to stable condition Wednesday
afternoon.

"They're in good spirits. They looked absolutely fantastic," said Dr.
Rochelle Vicker of San Francisco General Hospital.
She added they were being treated with antibiotics and monitored for
infections from their claw and tooth wounds to their heads, necks, arms and
hands.

They suffered "pretty aggressive bite marks," police spokesman Steve Mannina
said.

"The caging or enclosures are the territories of captivezooanimals. ...
They're hardwired for certain behaviors."

When they escape their enclosures, however, that behavior gets thrown off
kilter and anyone nearby must remain calm and quiet and out of their way to
avoid agitating them.

Zoologist Ron Magill agreed, saying that wild animals in captivity lose
their fear of humans and will "take advantage of any possibility" to escape.

"You can take the animal out of the wild; you cannot take the wild out of
the animal," he said.

Thezoo'sdirector of animal care and conservation, Robert Jenkins, could
not explain howTatianaescaped. Thetiger'senclosure is surrounded by a
15-foot-wide moat and 20-foot-high walls, and the big cat did not leave
through an open door, he said.

"There was no way out through the door," Jenkins said. "The animal appears
to have climbed or otherwise leaped out of the enclosure."

The first attack happened right outside theSiberian'senclosure - the
victim died at the scene. A group of four officers came across his body when
they entered the darkzoogrounds, Mannina said.

The second victim was about 300 yards away, in front of the Terrace Cafe.
The man was sitting on the ground, blood running from gashes in his head andTatianasitting next to him.

The cat attacked the man again, Mannina said. The officers approached thetigerwith their handguns.Tatianamoved in their direction and several of
the officers fired, killing the animal.

Only then did they see the third victim, who had also been mauled.

Although no new visitors were let in after 5 p.m. Tuesday, the grounds had
not been not scheduled to close until an hour later, and 20 to 25 people
were still in thezoowhen the attacks happened,zooofficials said.
Employees and visitors were told to take shelter whenzooofficials learned
of the attacks.

"This is a tragic event for San Francisco," Fire Department spokesman Lt.
Ken Smith said. "We pride ourselves in ourzoo, and we pride ourselves in
tourists coming and looking at our city."

There were five tigers at thezoo- three Sumatrans and two Siberians.
Officials initially worried that four tigers had escaped, but soon learned
onlyTatianahad escaped, Mannina said.

On Dec. 22, 2006,Tatianareached through the bars of her cage and grabbed a
keeper, biting and mauling one of the woman's arms and causing deep
lacerations. Thezoo'sLion House was temporarily closed during an
investigation.

California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health blamed thezoofor
the assault and imposed an $18,000 penalty. A medical claim filed against
the city by the keeper was denied.

Last February, a 140-pound jaguar named Jorge killed a zookeeper at the
DenverZoobefore being fatally shot.Zooofficials said later that the
zookeeper had violated rules by opening the door to the animal's cage.

After last year's attack, thezooadded customized steel mesh over the bars,
built in a feeding chute and increased the distance between the public and
the cats.

Tatianaarrived at the San FranciscoZoofrom the DenverZooa few years
ago, withzooofficials hoping she would mate with a maletiger.Siberian
tigers are classified as endangered and there are more than 600 of the
animals living in captivity worldwide.http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,318365,00.html

Chocolic

This is horrible that they killed Tatiana. I am an animal lover and I
believe they should have sedated the tiger. These kids were obviously
provoking the tiger. Please join my blog.


Uh, you do realize the tiger was attacking a person as the police
watched. The police weren't equipped with a tranquilizer gun. Should
they have just stood there and watched someone die?!? Should the cops
have let the tiger attack them?!?

It's a shame the animal had to be killed, but it had to be killed in
that situation. If the tiger was attacking you or a member of your
family - okay, one that you actually like - would you figure the poor
thing was probably hungry, or needed a chew toy, and let it be?!?


http://tatianawhykillthesiberiantiger.blogspot.com

http://groups.google.com/group/tatianawrongfullykilled

tatianawrongfullykilled@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

http://dedicatedtomydad.blogspot.com

http://discountshoppingatbellos.com

.

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