[FEL-L] SF tiger attack

[Tim Stoffel]

On Tue, 2007-01-02 at 19:17 -0500, PureRaine at aol.com wrote:
> 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.

SOS,
    So the way I read your comments is that it is well known that the
tiger could reach out. Almost any caging system has points like this.
the cats know it, and will use them to 'play'. The keepers have to be
aware of this, and not encourage this kind of behavior. Still, I think
this can be chalked up to a 'freak accident', as nothing like it has
ever occurred. It also sounds like the changes you suggest would go a
long ways towards preventing a repeat of this incident.
    Now the rest of the truth that needs to come out: How bad was the
keeper really injured?
    I do hope they keep the lion house feedings going. And when they
start them back up, I would like to come over to San Francisco and see
them for myself (5 hour drive, easy day trip I have done a number of
times before.)

Tim Stoffel

Tim Stoffel