Years ago, I had a computer game called “Zoo Tycoon”. Players would make a zoo from scratch, and the idea was to ensure that all the animals were in their proper habitat, upkeep fencing, etc. You would get money for new animals and upgrades/upkeep by having a zoo nice enough that people would pay an entrance fee.
I played it for a few weeks, and had a great virtual zoo, and then I got bored. I decided to see what would happen if I removed a piece of fencing around the tigers.
Not surprisingly, a tiger escaped. What was surprising, however, was that virtual zoo visitors ran screaming for their lives, and the tiger killed one or two of them. It was very realistic, but without the blood and gore.
On Christmas Day, something similar happened in real life, when a Siberian tiger named Tatiana escaped its enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo and killed one young man, wounding two others. Interestingly, all those attacked were at the zoo together.
Being a real critter lover myself, I can’t help but wonder if those three young men were tormenting the tiger which found a way out of its enclosure. After all, that tiger had been in there for years, and hadn’t escaped. There was no break in the fencing, it was the same fencing which had always been there. It appears the tiger somehow found a way to jump over it. The question I have to ask is, why? What happened to cause that animal to escape in a murderous rage?
What got me thinking that the young man who was killed and his two friends may be responsible for the attack is that, although others were around, the tiger killed one of them then went specifically after the others, and although others were around, the tiger attacked only those three men who were there together, and no one else. Police managed to make enough noise to get the animal’s attention, but it went right back to its attack, ignoring everyone else and attacking only those young men.
Police opened fire, and killed the animal. They didn’t really have a choice, because that tiger was pissed. Obviously, humans are not safe around angry tigers. Authorities have reported that originally, the two survivors were not cooperating. Why would they not cooperate, unless they had actually done something to instigate it and needed to get their stories straight? After all, if they were completely innocent in the situation, cooperation would have consisted of “I was at the zoo, and suddenly out of nowhere I was attacked by a tiger.” Simple. So I don’t believe for even one moment that those three young men weren’t tormenting that poor animal, and that’s why they were attacked.
The family of the young man who was killed are, not surprisingly, claiming that he was a hero. If that makes them feel better, more power to them, but I’m not buying it. That tiger attacked him for a reason, and it wasn’t because he was minding his own business then decided to play hero, given that the tiger killed him and then went specifically after his friends. It also doesn’t explain the footprints on the fence, which suggest that at least one of those young men was attempting to climb the fence which encircled the tigers’ habitat.
However, I’d really like to know exactly what those young men were doing to enrage that animal to that extent, though we’ll probably never know unless someone else saw it. That’s probably a long shot, since the zoo was closed and there were only stragglers. People visit zoos all the time to see the exotic animals, and there are always jerks who are mean to the animals in one way or another. I find it impossible to believe that the tiger going after these particular people, and no one else, was a coincidence. Animals, like people, do not forget if someone is cruel to them, and they are perfectly capable of differentiating between one human and another.
Isn’t it bad enough that these majestic animals have been taken out of their natural habitat and caged for our pleasure? Do zoo visitors really have to add insult to injury to these poor animals?
Long story short, the tiger was merely being a tiger by attacking those it viewed as a threat, and now that poor animal is dead because a couple of jerks did something which the tiger, held in captivity for so long, viewed as the final insult. While this may sound extremely cold, my sympathies are with the tiger, because there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that the young men who were killed and injured instigated the situation themselves.
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Source: MSNBC: One dead, two injured in tiger attack at SF Zoo
how dare you. this human being, someone’s child died.
you are totally jumping to conclusions assuming that the victims are to blame. are you aware that taiana attacked
a caregiver right before christmas last year? or that the tiger enclosure is 4 feet lower than the recommended minimum?
i love animals but i love people more. even if these young men taunted the tiger it shouldn’t have been able to get out.
maybe the tiger just gets pissed around christmas every year
and at 4 yrs old she just got big enough or strong enough to escape. would a 2 yr old be to blame if she toddled by with some aromatic food?
somehow, i think if this was your family member you might have a different perspective.
How dare I what, engage in my First Amendment rights?
LOL
You take your thought process to ridiculous lengths. The fact is, a two-year-old wasn’t attacked for carrying food by the enclosure. However, that’s an interesting point. Why did the tiger never attack an infant or a child, when an infant or child would be an easier kill? Instinctively, a tiger would attack the smallest and weakest of its prey, not three of the strongest. The tiger obviously wasn’t looking for food, and obviously didn’t just dislike humans (although if it did dislike humans, that would be completely understandable). That tiger attacked for another reason.
Let’s say the tiger doesn’t like people laughing or pointing, or doing the normal things people do to animals at a zoo. If so, again, why did the tiger not attack a child, since children are both worse offenders and easier marks? Again, it attacked in a way a tiger would normally never attack, UNLESS IT FELT THREATENED.
Are you beginning to see how your logic fails you at every juncture?
You also don’t account for the footprint on the animal’s enclosure, or the survivors’ initial refusal to cooperate with police. Chances are those guys tried to climb up the enclosure, to prove their machismo or whatever, and the tiger used a human foot to propel itself over the top and to freedom. It was the end of the day, and that’s when people pull stupid stunts like that, when nobody’s there to see it or stop them. The tiger didn’t even try to attack anyone else, though the two survivors ran to an area populated by others. That tiger went directly after those three, and no one else, which also goes against instinct unless the tiger felt threatened by them and was defending itself.
That’s not just me talking either. Police and zoo officials think that’s exactly what happened. And if that’s correct, those guys have no one to blame but themselves.
Would you feel quite so sorry for them if they’d been cruelly taunting a housecat? Probably not. Then again, we’d have never heard about that, because the housecat isn’t big enough to defend itself with lethal force.
That brings me to another point. Chances are these guys have taunted and/or otherwise annoyed (if not outright abused) other animals for years. You don’t start with a Siberian Tiger, after all. You start with dogs, cats, gerbils, etc., and eventually work your way up the food chain. These guys have probably been mistreating animals for years, without consequences.
Do I wish it hadn’t happened? Sure. But I still think it was completely avoidable, and if the humans involved had merely acted like they had those big brains we pride ourselves upon, it would never have happened in the first place.
[...] 4, 2008 by elfninosmom Previously I wrote an entry called “Real Life Zoo Tycoon Freakout” in which I discussed the Christmas Day tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo that resulted in one [...]
And another thing… wasn’t that exhibit the same exhibit since the 50’s? I thought I read somewhere that they had not changed it since then… and there haven’t been any incidents with the tigers regarding the enclosure, just behind the scenes in the cathouse where it’s caged.
As for the zookeeper, I think that was a just a poor accident.. You really have to be careful when feeding hungry animals — especially carnivores or big cats who probably can’t differenciate a piece of meat from a piece of meat when they’re hungry…
Sure, it was an awful incident which claimed the life of a beautiful animal and a human being. I don’t think I’d let a child of mine act like an idiot — taunting animals because (s)he thinks they are a safe distance away. I think children, especially, need to learn to respect nature in all of its glory. They need to understand how wonderful a zoo is for people, but it may not be as wonderful for the animals since they (the animals) are on the inside and we are free. So have a little respect for the animals.. they’re still wild - even if they were born in captivity. They still have the natural instincts and can snap when they have to.
Yuriko, you are right. Parents must teach their children to have a healthy respect for nature. Children who are not taught to respect nature are at a grave disadvantage to those who are taught to do that.
These guys are a good example of the danger of not teaching children to respect nature.
[...] on Christmas Day. As regular readers of this blog are aware, I previously wrote two entries (”Real life Zoo Tycoon freakout” and “Update on real life Zoo Tycoon freakout“) about the tiger attack, and in [...]