[FEL-L] SF tiger attack

[Tim Stoffel]

On Tue, 2007-01-02 at 16:54 -0500, PureRaine at aol.com wrote:
>  
>  
> This front page "news article" appeared on the SF Chronicle on New
> Years Day as "sensationalism" - something to stir up the public
> against exotic animals. The family had requested the keepers name not
> be used, yet the yellow journalism reporter felt free to identify the
> keeper as well as personal information. This eye witness report was
> held back until an "expert animal behaviorist" could comment and flesh
> out the article. News reporters like this one, are leeches and
> vultures who have no common sense, decency or respect for others
> privacy. They would rather make a situation worse than to be helpful. 
>  
> I understand when this happened, local news helicopters flew above the
> zoo grounds -  terrified the other animals - in an attempt to "get the
> story". Like they say, falling off a horse isn't sensational enough.
>  
> Over 3 years ago, I "adopted" a pair of African Lion cubs at the SF
> Zoo, and am very familiar with their Big Cat Feeding Tuesday through
> Sunday. I visit all the fur kids very week.  The "mauling" did NOT
> happen DURING the feeding, it happened after the cats had been fed.
> Tatiana, the young 3 year old Siberian tiger is just that - a young
> playful animal, who was, probably playing. Tatiana has only been "on
> display" at the SF Zoo for 7 months or so. She's not aggressive.
> (well, all the cats are aggressive during feeding time, but not
> afterwards).  The keeper could've had blood on her hands, the keeper
> could've been "hand-feeding" a treat and Tatiana reached out.
>  
> The Lion House caging is old, and has not been renovated in any way.
> The "gutter" the article described is the space between the cages and
> the public - approximately 4 feet wide where the keeper rolls a wheel
> barrel containing tubs of weighed meals for the different cats during
> feeding time. There is a moving slot that swings back so the food can
> be dropped inside the cage. The bar set of all the cages is the same -
> I think Tatiana was able to reach her arms underneath the bar set, I'd
> say at least a 6 to 8 inch gap between the bar set and the cement
> flooring of the cage.
>  
> I'm not saying that zoo's are right, but I'm just trying to clarify
> some of this. 

Thank you for the independent viewpoint on this. You would think that
a gap in the caging like that would have been problematic a long time
ago-- cats like to reach out and play with things. So either 1.) The
keepers are trained to be aware of the danger of cats reaching out, 2.)
You are missing some minor detail of the caging design that minimizes
the possibility of a cat reaching out, or 3.) For some reason, the cats
do not normally reach out. I am sure there will be some redesign of the
caging after this incident, but it's likely that it may have not been
that bad to begin with.

The two best tigers that I have ever had experience with were also the
two most dangerous tigers I ever had experience with. Why? These cats
were well-adjusted, playful and enjoyed 'making up' games with you. If
you followed common-sense handling practice with these cats everything
was fine. But, they played REALLY hard, and if you somehow got in their
way, getting hurt is inevitable. In all other respects, there was not a
mean bone in the body of either of these cats.