I came across this today while watching the morning show. This tiger was able to get out of her cage and kill one person and hurt two others. The zoo was trying to say they were taunting the tiger........
Well in my opinion,, it doesnt matter what they were doing,, it is the zoos responsibility to make sure she CANT get out when people are taunting her.
If my Oscar was to get out and bite the toe off of the next door neighbor kid,, I would be responsible......and besides a 12.5 foot fence for a tiger,,, thats just asking for trouble.
The reason I post this on here is we all keep "wild animals",, is it not our responsibility to make sure they cant get out and hurt anyone?

Wall of Siberian tiger enclosure at San Francisco Zoo is too short - Wikinews, the free news source

Geesh,, what if it would have been a busload of 5 year olds taunting the tiger.................

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I have sucker tattood on my forehead

yeah, this happened over a week ago. Pretty sad. The real loser in the end is the tiger. Yeah, the kid that died was a loser too, but they found a foot print on the rail. Pretty stupid to be up there.

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Yeah I saw that on the news last week. I believe they had just recently increased the height of the walls as well.

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Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

well,, he probably wasnt being real smart,, but in the end he was just a kid. Teenage boys that age are not the smartest creatures that walk this planet, lol. A 12.5 foot fence though sounds a little ridiculous. I feel if you are going to have your animals on display,, it is your responsibility to make sure they cant get out, or people cant get in,
I know when I was doing my research on Oscar the one thing that was always discussed was keeping people out,, not keeping him in. I have definately lived that one, lol. My neighbors 5 year old and the kid across the street hopped my fence and unlocked the latch and let him out when I was at the store. I came home to him wandering in the middle of the road trying to eat gravel, with a bunch of kids giving me excuses I was FURIOUS,, I took them home and chewed out their parents,, but in the end it was my responsibility to keep curious little people out of my backyard. Now the gate is locked up like some top secret facility, lol. I was very lucky that they didnt try to feed him anything and they come up missing fingers, I could have had a huge lawsuit against me.
People are not the smartest creatures thats for sure,, but as the owners of animals it is our responsibility to make sure we have all the precautions taken for when those kind of people come around. Heck,,, I have locks on all my big snake cages and iguana cages in my home. You have to have a key to get into them.

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I have sucker tattood on my forehead

People are ALWAYS taunting poor animals at the zoo... especially teenage boys in groups. I hope the kids that survived learned a lesson.
The poor tiger was just being what it is: a wild, clever, predatory animal. Bummer they killed her, she was a beauty. I remember seeing her when I was there last year.
I don't feel sorry for the kid... if people thought the animal MIGHT be able to get out and kill them, maybe they'd show more respect!
Here in Basel, in the 50's I think, a parent sat her kid on the wall of the polar bear enclosure. There was a water moat way down below and the polar bear liked to dive into it and spring up out of the water. He sprang high and ripped the kid right down off the wall. (sorry). They didn't kill the bear though, fortunately.
They put up a second wall on the visitor side and cemented steel spikes along the top of the original wall with signs all over not to put kids up there.
A few years ago, I was at the polar bear enclosure and the bear was doing his diving/springing up thing. A young guy with a camera strap around his neck was leaning WAY over the edge on the tip-toes of one leg to get more stretch and his camera pointed down towards the bear.... I was standing right off to the side of this guy and was about to say he shouldn't do that... the bear sprang up and the tip of it's HUGE claws just microscopically missed catching the guy's camera lens!! You've never seen a human being fly backwards so fast! (That must have looked amazing through his zoom lens!) The guy went as white as death and I pointed to the double wall with spikes and said "that's why those things are there!"
The guy hurried off -- probably to the restrooms to clean himself up. Dumba***!
I'm quoting another member here (sorry can't remember who): "Natural selection had a plan for people like that..."

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Andrea

I just find it interesting that the fence was so small,, a lot of the tigers up here have huge fences that are completely closed in, including the top, so they can jump all they want but cant get out. I would not feel sorry for him had he jumped in there with him,,, but the scary thought to me is how was this animal able to get out,,if it was properly housed she would not have been able to get out. I do feel sorry for the animal for being killed for doing something she naturally does, I think the fault definately lays on the keepers and the zoo,, it is their responsibility to make sure her enclosure keeps people out and her in.
Their is a lot of controversy about the kid,,, what if it was a 7 year old? would we still have the same opinion that the kid shouldnt have been taunting her,,, I doubt it............
Definately a lot of interesting points to think about.

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I have sucker tattood on my forehead

Actually, yes. I mean, most of the responsibility would be on the parents at that point. They should teach their children appropriate behavior for the situation, instead of letting them run around doing whatever they want. But would we blame the tiger in that instance? I wouldn't.

It reminds me of the kid who killed that boa (or was it a python?) by stomping on her head. The difference was more that the snake died in that case and not the kid, but it doesn't change the fact that his actions had serious consequences. Just like the actions of the unfortunate teenagers had consequences for them and the tiger. No matter what age we are, we need to understand that we need to show respect to other beings.

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"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.

I definately get that,, but some children are not lucky enough to have parents teach them these things,,, believe me I see it all the time, lol. So if Oscar would have bitten the finger off my neighbors kid,, after he let him out,, whose fault would it have been? Mine or his.

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I have sucker tattood on my forehead

A quick couple of points. They DID find a footprint on the top of the wall and had collected the shoes of the boys for comparison, but I never heard whether or not they had found a match. There was also speculation that the tiger may have been releaased by someone, but I never heard any conclusion on that one, either.
Originally the director of the zoo stated, in an interview, that the tiger enclosure's retaining wall was higher than the specs as recommended by the Zoological Parks Association when in fact it was well below the recommended height. However the enclosure had recently been inspected by the Zoological association and approved!
People go to the zoo assuming that they are safe and the animals properly confined. As distasteful as the idea of people taunting the animals is, it is still the responsibility of the zoo to make sure that there is NO WAY for a dangerous animal to get out of the enclosure and endanger the public,
ANY public.

Believe me, on more than one ocassion I would have seriously considered grabbing someone and personally tossing them INTO an enclosure for the things that they do. Ok so maybe the boys were being jerks. What if some elderly person with their small grandchild had been in the way when the tiger escaped.
IF the enclosure was inadequate to contain the tiger, regardless of the situation, it is ultimately the zoo's responsibility.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I agree that it will always be the zoos responsibility to contain the animals. The tigers natural instinct is to hunt and kill. They are predators, and thats what they do. I do not condone the actions of the teens, but that tiger should never have had the "option" to jump out of its enclosure.

I bet those kids will never tease another animal again. (They may never visit another zoo again.)

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