SF Zoo Tiger Attack: Tiger Debate Touched Off

How High Can a Tiger Leap?

Is Jumping and Leaping the Same?

Were the SF Zoo Visitors Under the Influence?

Should the Tigers Have been Shot?

Other Questions

USA Human Fatalities Caused by Tigers in Capitivity
During the Last Five Years

Tiger appears to be over 12 feet off the ground

Little Baby Ginn did a story about the San Francisco Zoo tiger attack a few days ago.

In the story, which was breaking at the time she wrote, the media was speculating about how the tigers at the San Francisco Zoo might have escaped.

There were reports of boards being tossed in to help the tigers, guesses about how the tigers may have been taunted, even that someone may have opened the door for the tigers.

Jack Hanna, noted animal "expert" said it was "virtually impossible" for the tigers to have leaped from the tiger enclosure. Like any expert, just when your words get their widest media exposure, that's when you'll most likely to be mistaken.

About the only theory that we didn't read in the media was that someone had slipped the tigers the key--and that one was floating around DBKP.

LBG quickly checked the references on tigers to discover that they could leap 30 feet. At that time, she could only find materials that stated the walls of the Tiger Enclosure at the SF Zoo were at most 20 feet.

Since that story, the zoo director has stated that the walls were only 12.5 feet high.

At any rate, a furious debate on tigers and their leaping abilities and whether a leap is different from a jump was set off in comments and emails.

One email pointed out: "Leaping is across...jumping is up".

Narniaman weighed in with the following.

Uh, don't they mean that the cats can do a 30 foot long jump, and not a 30 foot high jump?

Consider man. The world record for the long jump is nearly 30 feet, but the world record for the high jump is only about 8 feet.

Of course, if the moat is only 20 feet wide, it sounds like a Tiger could jump across that without difficulty.

Pat also had thoughts: not only on the tigers' leaping abilities, but on the loss of the tigers.

It has to be a long jump. Not a 30' high jump. But now we hear the wall is some 7.5' less high than originally claimed. And these idiots baited the tiger. Hard to anger a Tiger. She thought it was a game IMHO. Tigers play by batting. You move, it bats. It's bat is only matched by a bear. Mammalian man eaters= Tiger and a couple of bears. Other mammalian killers of man out of hand= the Hippo and Rhino (irritable bunch)

I have it on very good authority that leg dangling will attract sharks also.

I am pissed we lost a tiger because of a moonbat. this was a breeder too.

Dencio agreed and asked another question.

I agree, what a waste of a magnificent animal. They are an endagered species with only a few thousand left while the illegal immigrant population keeps growing by the millions. We should breed these Tigers to guard the border with mehico. And what about the Tiger's (Tatiana - yes she has a name) family? Has anyone cared whether she had cubs?

Pat had ideas on killing the tiger.

The idea you kill tigers for what tigers do is simply wrong. This is a human error. The tiger was flawless. Tigers are not dogs.

This prompted the following from "Anonymous", a sometimes-frequent poster in tiger debates.

Are you suggesting they watch while a tiger eats a man alive? Perhaps they should have brought chairs and some popcorn.

And then dencio leaped to pat's defense, mentioning something not found in other media accounts: were the SF Zoo visitors impaired on their outing?

Those cholos had it coming. It's the process of selection - nature weeding out the stupid and the weak. I checked the kid's myspace website and I'm willing to bet they were high. His last post from Christmas day said his mood was "high".

And so it went. There was much more, but you'll have to read the comments on the individual stories to get the full flavor.

The tiger attack set off a debate that covered many subjects and ideas and lead to the above picture being sent to us by someone who is still "anonymous" at this point.

Was it right to shoot the tigers?
Were the zoo visitors impaired?
Were the walls too short?

One suspects this is not the last we'll hear of tigers in America.

by Mondoreb
[image: forevertigers

DBKP Growing Library of Tiger Stories
* Tiger Shot in Dallas, Another Found in Harlem
* Deadly Tiger Attack at San Francisco Zoo
* Killer Tiger - San Fran Zoo Wall 12.5 Feet, Tigers Can Leap 30 Feet
* Full Grown Bengal Tiger Found Shot to Death in Dallas

UPDATE:

Human Fatalities Caused by Tigers in Captivity in the USA the Last Five Years

YEAR/State - Relationship to tiger - Comments

December 2007 - California - Visitor killed by a tiger who was out of her cage, while still on the SF Zoo property - Still under investigation as of 12/28/2007

April 2006 - Minnesota - USDA federally licensed private professional owner/trainer herself killed by her tiger - Occupational hazard. MN already has tough regulations on exotic animals-no risk to uninvolved public.

August 2005 - Kansas - 17 year old visitor voluntarily on the property visiting federally licensed private professional USDA facility to have her picture taken with adult tiger which is against USDA rules. - Parents should also be held responsible. Parents sued Exhibitor lost his USDA license and KS enacted tough regulations compared by many to a ban. No risk to uninvolved public.

December 2003 - North Carolina - 10 year boy old killed by his uncle’s pet tiger Parents should be also held responsible. Being killed by a tiger shouldn’t be treated any differently than death by accidents involving other activities. No risk to uninvolved public.

April 2003 - Oklahoma - Tiger killed a handler at professional federally licensed USDA facility Occupational hazard–no risk to uninvolved public.

March 2003 - Illinois - Man killed by his own tigers at his own federally licensed USDA facility Occupational hazard-no public risk. Illinois already heavily regulates private possession of ‘dangerous animals’.

For a complete listing, see Rexano's story and statistics: Human Fatalities Caused by Tigers in Captivity in the USA 2007-1990