Think Your Xmas Day Sucked?

[3113]

At least you weren't mauled by a tiger!

SAN FRANCISCO -- The director of the San Francisco Zoo and the city's police chief said today that they still don't know how a tiger managed to escape its enclosure on Christmas Day, mauling one person to death and seriously injuring two others. But at a late-morning news conference just outside the zoo property, zoo director Manuel Mollinedo said he would bring in outside experts to re-evaluate the safety of the outdoor enclosures for lions and tigers.

The Siberian tiger, Tatiana, was shot and killed by police officers responding to the incident Tuesday. Asked why the tiger was not put down after it attacked a zookeeper last year, Mollinedo pointed out the difference between that incident and the one on Tuesday. That incident occurred in the tigers' indoor facility during feeding time. "This incident is totally separate and apart in an open area," he said.

As for the zoo's approach in response to the mauling last year, he said, "We never considered putting the tiger down. The tiger acted as a normal tiger does." Extensive modifications were later made to that area, said Mollinedo, a former director of the Los Angeles Zoo. The zoo remained closed today, and Mollinedo said that if a decision was made to open it tomorrow, the lion and tiger areas would remain off limits.

The outdoor enclosure from which the tiger escaped features a 20-foot-wide moat and an 18-foot-wall, Mollinedo said. When a reporter mentioned suggestions that Tatiana may have exhibited warning signs, the zoo director said he had never seen the tiger in the lower area of the enclosure, near the moat, but had often seen her sunning in the upper area. "She seemed well adjusted and was not pacing," he said.

This afternoon, the San Francisco medical examiner's office identified the deceased as Carlos Sousa, 17, of San Jose. No other information was immediately available. San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong said at the morning news conference that the first report that a tiger was loose and that possibly people had been injured came in to fire dispatch at 5:07 p.m. Tuesday, and police were dispatched a minute later. She said police found the fatally injured person outside the tiger enclosure and then found the tiger a few hundred yards away at the Terrace Cafe. She said officers saw the tiger sitting by an injured person, and then saw the tiger begin to attack that person.

The four officers present first yelled at the tiger, not wanting to shoot for fear of injuring the person. But when the tiger turned toward the officers, they fired at the animal and killed it. Fong said she did not know how many shots had been fired. Fong said officials conducted three searches of the zoo up until midnight Christmas Day, to make sure there were no other victims and no other tigers on the loose. A California Highway Patrol helicopter searched with spotlights and flares. The San Francisco Fire Department used a helicopter with thermal imaging capability, which can identify bodies on the ground. Police officers walked the grounds, searching. "We're confident there are no additional victims," she said. She also said no one had called in looking for missing people who might have been at the zoo Christmas Day.

Fong said the zoo has been declared a crime scene until it is determined whether the tiger escaped on its own or got any sort of human help. She said police were looking at all statements and evaluating physical evidence. In the mauling incident a year ago, a zookeeper was feeding Tatiana when the tiger grabbed the keeper's hands in its claws and was pulling her. A second keeper freed the one who was mauled. Horrified visitors were watching when it happened, and the almost-daily public feedings were suspended.

The zoo's director of animal care and conservation, Robert Jenkins, said he could not explain the escape. "There was no way out through the door," Jenkins said. "The animal appears to have climbed or otherwise leaped out of the enclosure."

The San Francisco medical examiner had difficulty identifying the dead man because he did not have any documents with him and no one had called about him, said Tim Hellman, an investigator with the medical examiner's office. The two injured men, ages 19 and 23, suffered deep bites and claw cuts on their heads, necks, arms and hands. They were in stable condition today at San Francisco General Hospital after undergoing surgery to have their wounds cleaned and closed, surgeon Rochelle Dicker said.

"They are in good spirits. They look absolutely fantastic," she said.

 

[R. Richard]

The scumbags are now investigating the tiger incident as a crime. There is apparently no realistic way the tiger could have got out on its own. The suspicion is that someone outed the tiger.

 

[cloudy]

I love this:

"She seemed well adjusted and was not pacing," he said.

Um, newsflash: its a fucking tiger, and did what any tiger would do. Duh.

 

[cantdog]

People get totaled out over Christmas. Usually it's something really stupid they did or didn't do. But a tiger is like the Spanish Inquisition, man. Shit.

 

[R. Richard]

The latest news, with analysis.
1) The tiger was shot to death by the scumbags, despit the fact that the zoo people were resdy to use tranqulizer guns on the beastie.
2) The zoo director claims there was no zoo keep error involved in the escape. Of course, the zoo director would be unlikely to adnit zoo keeper error, even if he had found same.
3) The tiger, Tatiana, was being kept in 'the Lion House.' A tiger in 'the Lion House.' A clear case of provocation.
4) He [zoo director, Manuel Mollinedo] said it appeared that the dead teenager and two injured brothers knew one another. The brothers’ testimony will be crucial, he said. But shortly after the attack, when police officers tried to get their names, “they refused to cooperate.” This last illustrates the complete incompetence of the SF scumbags.
R. Richard: "OK, we need your names."
Unknown assholes: "Fuck you!"
R. Richard: "OK, bring the tiger back in and let's see if she can make the assholes talk."
Unknown assholes: "We want lawyers."
R. Richard: "Look, you ignorant assholes, no damn lawyer is going to represent you when the prosecution is a tiger. Think for once in your life, especially since you don't have much life left! Wait, maybe you would like to talk to Carlos Sousa Jr. He knows how to deal with the tiger."
Unknown assholes: "You are a damn murderer."
R. Richard: "Look, you ignorant assholes, its not me who did the murder. Its the tiger, we have it on film. Oh wait, I will give you your rights. You have no rights. You are dealing with a tiger and tigers think that only tigers have rights. Oh yeah, I need your weights. The zoo is having budgetary problems and we need to know how much we can cut back on the tiger's food after she finishes with you. I will just subtract the remaining weight and the zoo thanks you for the tiger food."

====================================================
The tiger, a 300-pound female Siberian named Tatiana who attacked a zookeeper last December, was shot to death by the police after the zoo’s 5 p.m. closing on Tuesday, after it somehow jumped barriers around the Lion House habitat and killed Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, of San Jose.

The police said they were trying to determine whether the tiger escaped because of negligence or equipment failure or whether it was somehow provoked to jump the 18-foot wall around the grotto.

The zoo director, Manuel Mollinedo, and a city official who was monitoring the matter strongly suggested that the tiger must have been lured or provoked and somehow assisted, perhaps inadvertently, to scale a barrier that had never before been breached.

“Something happened to get that cat agitated, to do what it did,” Mr. Mollinedo said. “She was a very mellow cat. I never saw her down in that moat, although she has access to it. Something triggered her to jump out of there, or she grabbed onto something and pulled herself over.”

Mr. Mollinedo said he rushed to the zoo on Tuesday and arrived about 15 minutes after the police. “My first reaction was that one of the staff left the gate open, but I feel comfortable in saying there was no keeper error,” he said.

In June, the state fined the zoo $18,000 for a “serious accident related” safety violation stemming from a mauling of a keeper by the same tiger last December. The authorities criticized the zoo for its facility and procedures.

Mr. Mollinedo said that he had not seen a police report about Tuesday’s events but that he believed, in part based on a discussion with a crime site investigator, that there was blood outside the animal exhibit and blood spots were seen along one of the walkways near a trail leading to the cafe, where the injured brothers were found.

“That tells me there was more than one person at the exhibit when the tiger escaped,” he said.

He said it appeared that the dead teenager and the injured men knew one another. The brothers’ testimony will be crucial, he said. But shortly after the attack, when police officers tried to get their names, “they refused to cooperate,” Mr. Mollinedo said.

When zoo employees realized a tiger was loose, he said, “the zoo shooting team was assembling” with tranquilizer guns. “But when police saw the weapon, they took it away. They had taken control of the scene.”

 

[Guest]

I am sorry that a man was killed but I feel for the animal.

Not the tiger's fault.

 

[Carnevil9]

The tiger was quoted as saying, upon consuming the victims, "They're GRRRRRREEAATT!!!"

 

[ChaiTea]

The tiger was quoted as saying, upon consuming the victims, "They're GRRRRRREEAATT!!!"

pretty sad for the boy and the tiger, but damn that was funny.

 

[fieryjen]

That sucks a lot for all involved. Not the tiger's fault, not the victim's fault, and likely not the zoo's fault either (judging by the article).

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I think the tiger was mean-spirited. And why werent those people wearing bicycle helmets?

 

[human_male]

You know how Russian wildlife wardens used to catch those things? They use dogs and a pole with a V shape on the end. The dogs corner them and they they pin them to a tree around the neck with the stick. No shit. I saw a bit of old footage on a documentary.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

According to the paper San Francisco is blaming George Bush for the tiger escaping.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

According to the paper San Francisco is blaming George Bush for the tiger escaping.

Ah, now that makes sense...

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

The tiger was quoted as saying, upon consuming the victims, "They're GRRRRRREEAATT!!!"

pretty sad for the boy and the tiger, but damn that was funny.

God help me but I LOL'd too.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

God help me but I LOL'd too.

Oh you're going to hell, no question.

 

[jomar]

You know how Russian wildlife wardens used to catch those things? They use dogs and a pole with a V shape on the end. The dogs corner them and they they pin them to a tree around the neck with the stick. No shit. I saw a bit of old footage on a documentary.

I didn't realize teens were so hard to catch. I figured all you had to do was bait them with pizza and MTV.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Oh you're going to hell, no question.

The nice thing about such certainty is that it eliminates any constraints that otherwise might inhibit deliciously naughty pleasures and behaviors.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

There's a rumor out that PETA let the tiger out. Other cats were turned loose in Wisconsin.