Tiger: 0 Stupid Humans:3

Tatiana

June 27, 2003-December 25, 2007

Oh, where to start with this fiasco? Poor Tatiana the beautiful Siberian Tiger was senselessly slain Christmas night. The unarmed feline was gunned down by four uniformed police officers who emptied their guns into her tawny fur. Her crime? Being a tiger.

First, the zoo was fined $18K over an incident whereby Tatiana ripped a female zookeeper’s arm open during ‘public feeding time’.

“The California Division of Occupation Safety and Health said the zoo was responsible for the incident because Komejan was inadequately trained for the task and the cages were set up in a manner that facilitated the attack.”


So… they closed down the exhibit for three months. (And hopefully made a note that Tatiana didn’t ‘play well with others’.) Now this tragedy occurs.

Currently it is under investigation as to how Tatiana escaped. Preliminary findings indicate it was not keeper error; the doors were closed and locked.

That leaves the cat leaping a 20 ft. moat / scaling an18 ft. wall… or the cat being assisted out of the cage – either by humans or poor cage design.

Wait! This just in! The 13 ft. wall was three feet below the minimum height recommended by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums!! This contradicts the San Francisco Chronicle’s report of 18 ft high!!

“Since the investigation began Tuesday, officials have given at least five different measurements for the enclosure”, I thought they had re-vamped the enclosure; this report claims it dates to the 1940s! (Tigers didn’t do steroids then)

Whatever the cause, Tatiana killed one young man and pursued his two friends some 300 yards to maul them as well. Now zoo animals are very well fed; and the tiger wasn’t munching on the first guy, or hiding the body away for later, but continued to attack, so let’s conclude this wasn’t hunger.

That leaves anger.

Seems to me the fact that the tiger ONLY attacked three that were visiting the zoo together could be a) opportunity: they were the only spectators near the enclosure b) selection.

I pick b.

Do not taunt the tiger, idiots! Did you not hear what happened to Roy Horn? Police are now investigating a footprint at the scene.

The exact sequence of events may never be known, and “sources close to the investigation tell The Chronicle that the surviving brothers have not been entirely forthcoming during interviews with police”.

Marian Roth-Cramer recalled the day she and her son, who was 4 or 5, visited the tiger exhibit in 1997.

"My son had his hands on the metal bar,"
said the San Francisco woman, a children's dance and family programs coordinator at a branch of the YMCA. "All of a sudden, I saw the tiger leap over the moat, put a paw on the dirt (and hang on). I screamed and grabbed my son."

The animal slid away. She turned to a zookeeper and asked if he'd seen what she had.

His reply: "She always does that. She hates my guts."

She wrote a letter to David Anderson, the zoo director at the time, about the incident and canceled her membership. She said she never got a reply.