Re: S.F. Zoo's history of mismanagement

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/27/MNEJU4SVN.DTL&tsp=1
S.F. Zoo incidents

Dec. 25, 2007: A Siberian tiger named Tatiana escapes and kills a
17-year-old San Jose boy and injures two brothers.

Dec. 22, 2006: Tatiana attacks and mauls zookeeper Lori Komejan, causing
deep lacerations to her arms.

February 2001: A zoo employee is attacked and injured by the claws of a
cassowary, a 5-foot-tall, 80-pound flightless bird native to the tropical
forests of New Guinea and northeastern Australia.

November 1994: Two Patas monkeys escape from the Primate Discovery Center.
The monkeys are about 15 inches high and weigh around 35 pounds.

May 1990: Veteran zookeeper Alan Feinberg is attacked and bitten by a
90-pound Persian leopard as a crowd of schoolchildren watches in horror. The
keeper is treated for deep wounds to his head and neck.

February 1990: A keeper suffers a lower back fracture after being knocked
into a 10-foot-deep moat by Tinkerbelle, a 7,000-pound elephant.

October 1988: Tinkerbelle attacks animal health technician Gail Hedberg, who
was treating the elephant for an abscess on its cheek. The elephant knocks
the technician down and does a headstand on her. Hedberg suffers a crushed
pelvis.

July 1985: Two Patas monkeys escape from the zoo and remain at large for six
weeks before being recaptured behind the University of California medical
complex on Mount Sutro.

April 1980: Five female City College students are caught fording the moat
around Monkey Island. Police officers find a dead spider monkey in a duffel
bag floating in the moat. The women are later given suspended jail sentences
and six months' probation.

January 1979: A male Indian elephant injures keepers, knocking one into the
moat.

November 1976: A 175-pound South American jaguar escapes from the zoo's
animal hospital, where it was recovering from cracked footpads. Zoo director
Saul Kitchener fells the animal, named Buster, with a dart from a
tranquilizer gun

February 1976: An antelope leaps over a damaged fence and knocks a visitor
to the ground, causing head injuries.

March 1972: A 3-year-old girl suffers a broken jaw and deep facial cuts when
a camel leans over a fence and bites the child in the face. It drags her
over the fence and tramples her.

March 1971: A 300-pound female tapir escapes from her compound and is found
wandering on Sloat Boulevard. The tapir bounds over two police cars, denting
both, and then knocks a police officer to the ground.

August 1969: An escaped chimpanzee bites two keepers.

April 1968: Amos Watson, a visitor, is mauled by a 450-pound lion, suffering
puncture wounds over most of his body. Watson had climbed over a rail and
tumbled into the moat. The lion is killed by one shot from a keeper's rifle.

August 1967: Zookeeper Robert Caldwell is badly bitten by a 400-pound
orangutan. He was alone near the Great Ape Grotto when Big Red, the male
orangutan, reached under the mesh-covered bars and grabbed Caldwell's left
arm, pulling it into the cage. Then Linda, a female orangutan, chewed on the
keeper's arm.

November 1962: May, a 6,000-pound elephant, attacks her keeper, battering
him with her trunk and butting him with her head.

December 1960: A 500-pound lion reaches between the bars of its cage and
hooks the arm of a keeper, who has to undergo two hours of surgery for his
injuries.

May 1960: A 125-pound black leopard attacks a keeper who had been feeding
the animal.

March 1949: A polar bear reaches through the bars of its cage and hooks a
visitor's arm.

Source: Chronicle research




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