[FEL-L] SF tiger attack

[PureRaine at aol.com]

Tim - 
 
 
Being just a zoo patron, I can't climb over the railing to measure the gap  
under the bar set, but I have a lot of pictures of Kimani with her arms through 
 it. 
 
I made a mistake since I'm not at the Zoo and can't see the gap but It  looks 
about four to five inches, just enough for a large 350  pound cat to slide 
their arms through it. I will send you a picture if I can  find it on my 
hard drive...
 

All of the cats in the Lion House are exceptionally (I hate to use this  
word)  "tame". Three out of four lions were hand raised by keepers at the  SF Zoo. 
In three and a half years I've been visiting the cats, I've never seen  any 
of them reach out from under the gap in the bar set.
 
Kimani has put her arms under the bar set and rested her muzzle on a  
horizontal bar, but she has never used that part of the gap to reach out.   The bars 
are set too closely together for them to reach out, but Kimani has  figured 
out that she can turn her hand (paw) sideways and slip it through bars.  None of 
the lions or tigers have ever been aggressive, have never hurt  
intentionally. Kimani has tried several times to grab the water hose, but not to  harm a 
person.
 
Tatiana would jump off her perch in the feeding cage and come see me at the  
front of the cage. The last time she rolled over on her side and looked at me. 
I  would be hard pressed to say she was aggressive. I've talked to other  
keepers who have worked in the Lion House and they have said the same thing -  
none of those cats have shown aggression. And like you said, was probably  
playing.
 
One tiger they did have - Uton, a Sumatran, was very aggressive. They had  to 
put up extra wire on the caging so he wouldn't reach through even when he  
wasn't being fed. Uton was just aggressive, it was just how he was. His "mate"  
didn't even like him! Uton (they say) he went to San Diego a year ago, but 
they  left the extra caging up and the feeding chute in place.
 
They'll probably put up extra wire caging on all the cages, or renovate the  
cages one at a time, and close up that gap at the bottom. . I don't  see SF 
Zoo closing down the Lion House feedings, it's a good revenue for them.  It 
educates people about big cats, but mostly when people see them that close,  they 
are fascinated with the beauty of them.
 
 
sos
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 1/2/2007 3:06:39 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
tim at lionlamb.us writes:


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.




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