[FEL-L] Lowry Zoo Plans To Replace Tiger Shot After Escape

[BigCatSimba at aol.com]

By VALERIE KALFRIN The Tampa Tribune
Published: Aug 24, 2006
TAMPA - Even as officials investigate whether a zookeeper should be 
criminally charged in a Sumatran tiger's escape and death, Lowry Park Zoo officials 
said they will obtain another tiger to replace the rare animal. 
Zoo President and Chief Executive Officer Lex Salisbury said Wednesday the 
facility will continue with the program that has brought tigers to the zoo so 
children can learn more about them. The zoo has a male Sumatran tiger, Eric.
"We feel like we have a moral purpose. We're making a difference," Salisbury 
said. 
The zoo, he said, is conducting a review of how it handled the escape and 
shooting. He did not say how long the review will take.
Enshalla, the female tiger whose name means "God willing" in Arabic, was born 
at the zoo in August 1991. She died there Tuesday after escaping from her den 
and trying to scale a 7-foot rocky enclosure surrounding the old rhinoceros 
habitat in the Asian Domain, which is being renovated and will open 
incrementally in September. The zoo was open Wednesday. 
A zookeeper left an access door to Enshalla's nightly den unlatched about 
4:45 p.m. Tuesday, allowing her to slip into the construction site and a dry moat 
in the rhino's old quarters, where Salisbury later shot her.
At the time, the animal had "winced" from a tranquilizer dart in her 
hindquarters shot by zoo veterinarian David Murphy from an observation platform, 
Salisbury said Wednesday, pointing out where he had stood with a 12-gauge shotgun.
The dart had no immediate effect. Meanwhile, Enshalla "took one leap and 
almost got to the top" of the ivy-covered enclosure, he said. Murphy's observation 
platform was near the top, leaving little choice but to shoot the tiger, 
Salisbury said.
The tiger will be cremated after a necropsy. Some tissue samples from her 
organs may be sent to research facilities, Murphy said.
The zookeeper, who was not identified, is on paid administrative leave while 
the zoo reviews the incident, Salisbury said. 
The zoo's general curator, Lee Ann Rottman, said the keeper had worked at the 
zoo for about a month and with the tigers for about two weeks. He had trained 
with a supervisor before being assigned to handle the tigers, she said. 
Although he was new to Lowry Park, he previously worked with the Luby 
Foundation, a wildlife facility in Alachua County, after earning an associate's 
degree in zoology from Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, she said.
"You're trained in Zookeeping 101 to check your locks. He made a mistake. I 
don't even know if he knows why he made it," Rottman said. "The fact remains 
that we're all human, and mistakes can be made. It's hard for me to understand 
not checking locks, but it could happen to me."
Lt. Steve De Lacure, of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation 
Commission, and an investigator from the U.S. Department of Agriculture visited the 
tiger's quarters and inspected the shooting site Wednesday.
De Lacure said he will forward the results of his investigation to the 
Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office to determine whether the keeper should 
be charged with a misdemeanor for unsafe handling of captive wildlife resulting 
in an escape or injury. The charge is punishable by a $500 fine or 60 days in 
jail.
So far, De Lacure said, he is impressed by the zoo's 10-member shooting team 
having quarterly firearms training and mock escapes with one member 
representing an animal. 
The medications used by Murphy - Metatomadine and Telazol - were appropriate 
under the circumstances, De Lacure said, noting that an animal's weight, age, 
health and adrenaline all influence the effectiveness. Sometimes the drugs 
take effect after several minutes; other times, not at all, he said.
The shooting team that responded to the "Code One" - a call of an animal on 
the loose - on Tuesday carried weapons of different caliber, including .375, 
.30-06 and .308. Using the shotgun was a "tactical decision" that, from a safety 
standpoint, was a good choice in close quarters, De Lacure said.
He had not interviewed the zookeeper Wednesday because the man was 
distraught, De Lacure said.
The zoo's protocols are inspected every five years by the American Zoo and 
Aquarium Association of Silver Spring, Md., zoo officials said. 
Zookeepers radio one another to say where they are working before they move 
to another location, but officials are considering putting a "buddy system" in 
place where one zookeeper would follow another to ensure all pens and 
enclosures are properly locked, Salisbury said. Such systems can be unwieldy, he said, 
but "we want to make sure this never happens again."
Overall, Salisbury said, he was satisfied with how zoo personnel handled the 
escape. "This is what we had to do in this circumstance, regardless of how 
tragic the outcome was," Salisbury said. "Human life is more important than 
animal life in any situation."
Clearwater resident Sharry Arnold, 59, sympathized with the zoo's staff even 
as she mourned the death of the tiger she held as a cub. Arnold was working at 
Raymond James Financial Inc. in 1991 when the company sponsored the tiger 
exhibit and held a contest for employees to name the tigers. Arnold submitted 
Enshalla, an Arabic word that she had heard from a friend married to a State 
Department employee stationed in Africa.
"The exhibit's special to me because of that. I can just imagine how they 
must feel," she said. "She was beautiful. She was such a pretty baby."
http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGB70FMK8RE.html 
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