California Zoo Declared Crime Scene After Deadly Tiger Attack

[Ignis]

Source: VOA News

The San Francisco Zoo in California is closed to visitors and has been declared a crime scene after a tiger escaped from its enclosure Tuesday, killing a teenager and injuring two others.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, San Francisco's police chief Heather Fong said police have launched a criminal investigation to determine whether a person was involved in the tiger's escape. She said officers have begun gathering physical evidence and taking statements.

Officials say the Siberian tiger killed 17-year-old Carlos Sousa, Junior, outside her habitat shortly after the zoo closed, then wandered into a cafe several hundred meters away and attacked the other two people. The injured men, ages 19 and 23, are listed in stable condition.

Police distracted the tiger after finding her attacking the second injured man, then shot and killed her as she approached them.

Read more: http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-12-26-voa65.cfm

[Hell Hath No Fury]

1. There is something very fishy going on here...

All three men attacked were friends -- two brothers who survived and a friend of their's that died. Local reports are saying the fatality occurred right outside the enclosure, and that there was a blood trail from that location to where the two survivors were found at the cafe.

I have been going to that zoo for 40+ years, and am just not convinced that cat jumped that "moat" (really just a very deep, large ditch with no water). I have seen cat after cat walk the upper edge of the "moat", or climb down into the "moat" and walk along the flat bottom. All of those cats had ample opportunity and reason to make the leap, but it has never, ever happened before. There are access doors to the back of the enclosures everywhere you go around the zoo -- you see them tucked away on the walls between the exhibits. I find it very interesting the two survivors are not talking to police at this time.

I have seen Tatiana since she was a cub. I have pictures of her playing with another cub in her enclosure. She was a truly beautiful cat to see as she grew up. It breaks my heart to think that she was destroyed because of someone's accidental or purposeful negligence.

[LisaL]

2. It's not the first time Tatiana did something like that.

Previously she attacked her keeper.
Seems like she didn't like people.

[1monster]

3. Can you blame her?

[Hell Hath No Fury]

4. The incident last year with the keeper was...

determined to be her -- the keeper's -- fault. She had her hand inside Tatiana's feeding cage, reaching for something near a drain (from what I remember) -- a very big no-no.

Prior to that incident, the cats used to be fed through a rather large, barred pass-through in the front of the cage. The keeper would put the meat down on the cement ledge in front of the pass-through, open the pass-through, and then push the meat into the cage using a push stick. One more than one occassion I have seen the pass-through barely open before being snatched by a lion or tiger into their cage. For them, whatever comes in those bars is dinner, attached to a keeper or not.

[EFerrari]

6. Oh for pete's sake.

The last time was a keeper's big fat mistake.

This time, it's beginning to look like someone let her out.

[aquart]

23. Or, she was so bored out of her mind she put her whole soul into getting out.

Tigers are solitary but BUSY. They range their territory. When awake, they're ACTIVELY alert and doing. If they do not have that activity, they can go insane.

Was the zoo keeping this rare and endangered animal busy enough?

[EFerrari]

24. That's a good point but this cat was likely far beyond that point

in her captivity.

[alcibiades_mystery]

39. "they can go insane..."

Is there an mental illness diagnosis manual for tigers?

:rofl:

[aquart]

51. I'm sorry.

You think an insane animal is funny? Really? Because my family does rescue. We deal with serious trauma. We deal with oh, there was Julep who had been hanged, the kitten missing part of her tail because it had been used to swing her head into a wall...she had uneven pupils and cigarette burns, the nursing mother whose kittens were taken from her and killed, the big cat who cowered in the back of a cage in a kind of catatonic terror (Oh, I bet you think "catatonic" is a real funny word), the pampered darling who lost her mind when she lost her home and family, the cats with knife wounds because their owner was off her meds, and my poor David whose mind took over ten years of patience to heal.

Somebody didn't teach you much.

[The Stranger]

19. My god, is this post serious?

Do you not know what a tiger is? Are you familiar with predators? Evolution? Biology?

Jesus fucking christ. "Seems she didn't like people." What?

[LisaL]

22. This was a zoo born tiger, genius.

I don't think they normally consider people as their food.
:eyes:

[uppityperson]

28. Tigers are different than lions. zoo born helps but doesn't over ride genetics.

Tigers are big, intelligent carnivores. They are not trustworthy, not like lions are (generally).

[The Stranger]

36. After this exchange, I might actually consider myself a genius.

Or perhaps at least an educator.

Look, tigers are what they are as a result of millions of years of evolution. They are evolved as predators and emerged on the top of the food chain after those millions of years. That was no mean feat.

Tigers, and other large predators, are designed and engineered by evolution to be extremely efficient hunters because they must do this to survive these millions of years of evolution and emerge on top of the food chain. When a tiger attacks, it doesn't ask for permission first. It could never afford to do such a thing, or it would never have become a tiger.

That a tiger is born in a zoo makes absolutely no difference to its instincts, its basic hard wiring. If you are a religious person, consider it the way the tiger was made. And if you are not a religious person, consider it to be a beautiful thing, wondrous, powerful, wild.

I very seriously doubt that you can say "they normally (don't} consider people as their food." Tigers very likely preyed upon primates of some sort, if in fact they don't still do that now.

That humans may have been prey for tigers at some point could be what is skewing beliefs here to think that the tiger somehow shouldn't have attacked these people. Apparently, it was not behaving like it should, when in fact this is exactly opposite of the truth.

[EFerrari]

5. I agree. I've seen that enclosure.

How the hell did she get out?

[LisaL]

7. Maybe she was a really good jumper.

[EFerrari]

8. If that were the case, she'd have been out long ago.

I have cats. I regularly see them doing things I don't think are possible. But, they don't wait to do them.

[LisaL]

9. There is always a time for some new trick.

[EFerrari]

10. You seem to have the view that animals are murderous and human

beings are not when in reality, the reverse is true.

Some new trick? Holy cow.

[LisaL]

11. I have no clue as to how you surmised that

from the idea that possibly tiger got out of the enclosure by jumping the wall.
Seems to me it either jumped the wall or got out the door, unless it learned to fly.
I have no clue what that has to do with either tigers or humans being murderous or not.

[EFerrari]

12. I've seen the enclosure. There's no way that cat got out on her own.

And, cats don't get up to "new tricks" for no reason. There is always an impetus from the outside. They don't just randomly plot to hurt people.

Something happened here.

[LisaL]

13. Well, like I said, either that cat jumped the wall, or got

out the door. I honestly don't think it learned to fly.
There were claims the door was closed, so, if that is correct, then it must have jumped the wall.

[EFerrari]

14. The area has been declared a crime scene.

It looks like the police believe there was human intervention, too.

[LisaL]

15. If there was anything put into the enclosure to help this tiger

escape, then police should have found it by now.

[EFerrari]

17. Not necessarily. This story is still developing.

[silverojo]

16. Something else I don't hear talked about on the news

Somebody, somewhere down the line, must have been abusive toward her. Tigers don't become man-eaters unless they live in a place where humans are easy prey. Offhand, I can only think of one place in the world where this is the case.

As mentioned here, Tatiana has been at the zoo since she was a cub. Therefore, she's used to humans, and would have no reason or inclination to attack them, let alone kill them.

Bearing this in mind, remember Siegfried and Roy? They were so close to their tigers, that they actually slept beside them. However (as the world quickly discovered), when a tiger isn't feeling cooperative, you don't smack it in the nose with a microphone to make it do what you want.

You also don't stick your hand in the cage while feeding it a piece of meat, as the SF Zoo learned.

Fast-forward to now. As someone on this thread asked, why did the tiger single out people who were friends with each other? What are the odds? I wish there were security cameras, to see if those people were near the tiger's enclosure, if they were teasing her, etc.

If a tiger got sufficiently pissed off, I can imagine that adrenaline surging through a 300-lb. cat would be more than enough to energize her muscles so that she could escape.

If it turns out somebody left the door open on purpose...it still begs the question, why did this tiger single out people who knew each other, instead of just randomly killing?

[EFerrari]

18. Do we know if the last two victims knew the first, dead one?

I've been to the cafe where the survivors were attacked. It's not right next to the tigers' area.

San Francisco is a small town, in reality. Wherever you go, you can count on running into your neighbors. And / but, something is wrong here. You may be right that she tracked a scent. I can only think some mom sent her kids out of the house while she prepared for Christmas dinner and this is how her day ended. :(

[LisaL]

20. Well, if the three were together, the tiger might have leaped

out of the enclosure, killed one of them, then run after the other two as they were running away, and attacked them. After all, in the wild, tigers run after their pray.

[Maddy McCall]

38. Hmmm...Your argument changes depending on with whom you argue.

Awhile ago, you were exploiting the "she was a zoo-born tiger, genius" angle.

Now you're saying that instinct is a factor.

So which is it, genius?

(I think you're arguing for the sake of arguing.)

[LisaL]

40. Well, a zoo born tiger is still going to have an instinct.

But not all tigers are going to attack people. Even in the wild tigers don't normally hunt people. Those who do hunt people are in turn hunted down and killed.
This particular tiger, considering the fact that it attacked keeper in the past, was probably more aggressive than the rest.

[BearSquirrel2]

26. Proximity

Fast-forward to now. As someone on this thread asked, why did the tiger single out people who were friends with each other? What are the odds? I wish there were security cameras, to see if those people were near the tiger's enclosure, if they were teasing her, etc.

Maybe they were beating it while it was killing there friend. Then it turned on them.

[EFerrari]

47. It seems that they did try to intervene but then had to flee.

Those kids, whatever they did, will never be the same. Heartbreaking.

[BearSquirrel2]

25. Fat cat

Given this was a zoo cat as opposed to a wild cat in "shape" I doubt it. Someone let the cat out of it's enclosure.

[pettypace]

21. Most important of all

Deepest condolences go out to the family of the child that lost his life.

[frogcycle]

27. my condolences to the tiger

a life in prison, ended by we-don't-know-what that led to her egress from her enclosure and attacking something following natural, albeit distorted by her unnatural situation, instincts, only to be summarily executed (necessary, I guess, but tragic)


As to what makes tigers "become man-eaters" - conventional wisdom does not apply to a creature deprived its entire life of its natural habitat and the behaviors it is genetically programmed to do - this one had never seen what would be its normal prey in the wild - about all it had probably ever seen that moved were people and squirrels. So it went for something that moved. Not surprising to me. Most zoos nowadays go to pretty good lengths to provide a somewhat natural seeming environment, stuff to play with, various stimulation to try to keep the animals close to sane. But it is nigh impossible to do that for such powerful and complex animals as tigers, that normally would cover a lot of territory. There are so few siberians left in the wild, though, that one cannot disagree with the efforts to raise them in zoos. It is just a damned challenging endeavor. This animal did noe "turn vicious" or "go bad" or anything. It just did what nature told it to do it the circumstances. If it turns out that these three were somehow abusing it I'd say too bad it didn't take them all out. But I'll reserve judgment on that until the facts are determined.

Siberian tigers are one of the rarest species:

from wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Tiger

"A count, taken in 1996 reported 430 Siberian Tigers in the wild. However, Russian conservation efforts have led to a slight increase, or at least to a stable population of the subspecies, as the number of individuals in the Siberian Forests was estimated between 431 and 529 in the last count in 2005.<9> According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the latest Russian Census reports put this number to be anywhere between 480 and 520 without including the small numbers of this subspecies present in mainland China.<10> The Hengdaohezi Feline Breeding Centre in the northern Heilongjiang province of China plans to release 620 Siberian tigers, after its numbers have increased from 708 to 750.<11>"

[pinniped]

29. Here's a fairly recent update:

Tiger-mauling probe looks at whether victim dangled leg

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/26/MNEJU4SVN.DTL

Kevin Fagan, Jaxon Van Derbeken, Steve Rubenstein,Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writers

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

San Francisco police are investigating the possibility that one of the victims in the fatal tiger mauling on Christmas Day climbed over a waist-high fence and then dangled a leg or other body part over the edge of a moat that kept the big cat away from the public, sources close to the investigation said Wednesday.

The minimal evidence found at the scene included a shoe and blood in an area between the gate and the edge of the 25- to 30-foot-wide moat, raising questions about what role, if any, the victims might have had in accidentally helping the animal escape.

The three victims, all young men from San Jose, were visiting the zoo together. They were all present just outside the tiger's grotto when the tiger escaped, killed 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. with a savage slash to the throat, and injured the other two. The names of the survivors, who are brothers ages 19 and 23, have not been released.

The injured victims fled, leaving a trail of blood, which police believe the tiger followed for 300 yards up a zoo pathway. As the tiger cornered and attacked one of the brothers, four police officers arrived, distracted the animal and shot it dead.
-----------

more:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/26/MNEJU4SVN.DTL

[Pachamama]

30. I'm convinced that the 3 men were taunting the tiger, throwing objects (sticks, rocks etc) at the

tiger and even dangling a foot/leg over the bushes that are just above the moat that drops down 14 feet. It wouldn't have been out of the realm of possibilities that the tiger who was highly agitated then jumped upward or across this moat at the boys, killing one as the two other injured ran off to the cafe not far away.

I am so horrified at this incident. Horrified that someone had to die and two others injured and horrified that this beautiful endangered animal had to be killed. I believe the enclosures at the zoo have never been sufficiently safe. I have had friends from other countries remark that they thought the distance of the "moat" was smaller than they thought their zoos had and I remember once a friend of my Father in law, a fellow professor of Biology who had seen Tigers in the wild and knew what they could do, remark that they are incredibly powerful and could leap incredible distances if needed. I am so angry that the SF Zoo doesn't have cameras and better staffing to watch for things such as an incident of taunting of animals (or to track an animal in the event of an escape) and that in preparation for such an emergency situation, that they don't even have their own security on site with rifles, shotguns (aside from tranquilizer guns) that they could have used to protect patrons and instead that they desperately were needing to call SFPD for help.

I know the SFPD did what they had to in shooting the animal. I blame the zoo for this animals death and the young men if indeed they were taunting the animal. Police are trained to shoot to kill, not mame and ofcourse to protect the public. This animal had already killed one and was about to go for number two and then was turning towards them. They had to shoot to kill. But where were the zoo officials? Well, we know where they are now. Making excuses and probably doing all they can to cover their behinds in liability of any kind. Tatiana was a magnificent creature and while she was a zoo born tiger, she was still a wild animal with predatory instincts. And she had tasted human blood only a year ago when she mauled the zoo keeper. And what were the chances that the 3 humans she went after were there together? I hope the investigation turns up all the proof of what these three were doing and that the Zoo is finally held accountable for their neglect in taking proper safety precautions and protection of zoo animals and patrons.

:grr:

[LeftCoast]

31. Based on the info I've heard, I think I agree with you Pachamama

I want some good answers from the Zoo and the City before this is all over with. I go over that way all the time, it's ridiculous to have to worry whether I'm going to get eaten by a freakin' tiger!

[Pachamama]

32. I must go to the SF Zoo atleast 3 times a month with the Pachababies! Here I always assumed that

the Zoo had a security force with tranquilizer guns and hunting rifles including ones that could take down a charging rhino if needed, in order to keep patrons and the animals safe! No, instead I find out the zoo employees are taught to lock themselves in buildings in the event of an escape and call the SFPD! Now if you or I or anyone is near the Zoo, we best hope that the SFPD responds soon enough or we are catfood! :puke:

I hope we get more answers soon, but I don't expect the Zoo to be very forthcoming. When that poor zookeeper who got mauled last year by Tatiana happened, the Zoo immediately shut up and didn't want to take any responsibility for that incident. And while I think the Zoo is for kids of all ages, I highly, highly suspect why 3 young men, all friends (two bros) went to the Zoo on Xmas day and were at the enclosure for the tigers. Ofcourse, if the SF Zoo had SECURITY CAMERAS or staff around, they might have seen what was happening. But I recall being inside the zoo towards the end of the day (or even the middle) and someone could be throwing something at the animals and there wouldn't be any staff of the zoo or even patron to see you. And now we know if an animal got out, they couldn't tell you where it went either. Holy shit - you hear about all the high tech surveillance equipment and GPS, they couldn't have cameras in the animals enclosures with alarms? They couldn't embed a GPS tracking chip in the cat and know where it was on the zoo grounds? I can think of a dozen ways (granted not cheap) but isn't the safety of patrons and endangered animals worth it? I'd happily pay twice what I do for my family annual membership to the zoo if I knew it paid for this kind of stuff.

Sigh...so do you think those young men who survived will ever taunt an animal again in their lives? :eyes:

[EFerrari]

34. Here is some info on how the management nonprofit is responding:

"I had a list of repairs we were going to use that bond money for," Mollinedo said, including upgrades on the area in the zoo where the hippopotamuses live. "In my wildest dreams, I never imagined a tiger could come out of that moat."

Currently, the zoo does not have any video surveillance, and adding cameras would allow security staff to monitor how visitors are interacting with the animals, Mollinedo said. Investigators are looking into whether the victims of Tuesday night's attack taunted the tiger before it jumped over the wall and went after them.

The current zoo was built in the 1930s and operated by the city until 1993, when San Francisco officials handed over day-to-day control to the San Francisco Zoological Society in the hope that a private nonprofit organization could more effectively raise money to keep it running.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/27/MNA1U50EH.DTL

Edit to add: And again, Newsom's response is to go to Hawaii. I hope to God we don't have another disaster while he's in office.

[Pachamama]

37. Well, their wildest dreams should have imagined a tiger coming out of the moat and enclosure because

its what happened!! :eyes:

As I said above in my post SFExpat, I'm so angry at the Zoo for their failures to anticipate, plan and protect both animals and patrons.

Meanwhile, not that I am any defender of Gavin Newsom, but I happen to know that he and his girlfriend Jenifer Siebel had planned to be in Hawaii for Xmas and left that morning and the incident happened late in the day. (I know because her parents live right around the corner from me here in Ross).

[EFerrari]

41. Lol! One of my fallback positions when anything happens here

is to get mad at Gavin. :hi:

[Pachamama]

44. That's okay....I think everyone I know in SF has a love/hate relationship with Gavin

Besides, its a fun sport, I agree to make Gavin the fall guy.... :hi:

My problem is I know too much about Gavin...good and bad....and you can add me in to the love/hate category....But the Siebels are neighbors of mine (along with people like Sean Penn and Phil Lesh) and I get to see the inner workings all the time of what goes on around me....Even Jennifer's dead sister (who died in a tragic accident when she was young in Hawaii) has a memorial rock right outside my kid's school here in Ross...

[EFerrari]

45. Because of comedy and some of my other stuff

a few of the guys on the BoS who spar with Gavin are my friends. I've only met him once a few years ago at Comedy Day and we thanked him for his initiative re gay marriage. He's slight in person, very handsome. He reminds me of my oldest.


/oops

[SyntaxError]

43. Most people probably wouldn't have to worry about it...

since most people probably wouldn't try to pick a fight with a tiger...

But ehnn, now someone is dead and so is the tiger..

[Catsbrains]

33. Are there any cameras? Was it recorded?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

49. People sometimes do really dumb stuff when visiting zoos...

It seems prudent to me to have security present at all times around the enclosures.

I used to volunteer at the National Zoo's golden lion tamarin reintroduction project. I helped keep records about their behavior as they roamed the zoo, and explained about the program and the animals to visitors. Once a visitor reached up to encourage one of the monkeys to come closer. I asked him politely to stop, as we were trying to teach them how to be wild, and they might very well bite his hand. This guy...an adult who appeared to be in his 30s...said, "Oh really?" and continued to stick his dumbshit hand up and call the monkey. I had to threaten to call security to get the stooge to stop.

In the course of volunteering there, I caught a young kid, unattended at age 9 or so, chucking pebbles at a black swan who was sitting on a nest. I have no idea why I was the one who had to say to the kid with a stern look, "Don't do that! What's the matter with you?" I've seen people climb on tops of walls of enclosures when there are signs all over the place telling them not to. And I've observed kids rolling recklessly through the park on "heelys" with no regard for the guy who's hobbling along with his cane, while their parents watch obliviously.

But for every one of these assholes, there are at least 50 visitors who come the zoo to learn something about the animals, who want to do their part to support conservation after being inspired by their visit. And there are still more who may not be terribly concerned about conservation, but came to have a good time, and know how to conduct themselves appropriately.

Poor Tatiana... :cry:

[EFerrari]

35. S.F. Zoo's Tatiana acted her part as alpha predator, experts say

S.F. Zoo's Tatiana acted her part as alpha predator, experts say

Patricia Yollin, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, December 27, 2007

"She was everything that a tiger is supposed to be," said big-cat expert Ronald Tilson. "She was essentially shot and killed for being a tiger."

Tilson was speaking about Tatiana, the 4-year-old Siberian who fatally attacked one zoo visitor and injured two others at the San Francisco Zoo late Christmas afternoon before police officers gunned her down.

A year ago, she mauled her keeper, devouring the flesh from her arm. Should Tatiana have been put down at that time?

"There was no reason whatsoever," said Tilson, director of conservation at the Minnesota Zoo, who since 1987 has been overseeing the tiger species survival plan of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/27/MN39U4TQ5.DTL

[SyntaxError]

42. I have a hard time blaming the tiger for this...

It's sad that someone died, but from what I heard it sounds like they were instigating it...

[EFerrari]

46. She was in the zoo's care and they screwed up.

She was being a cat.

[judaspriestess]

48. moral of the story don't be an idiot and taunt a wild animal

just because its in a cage. They are still wild animals with predatory instincts. I'm sorry the kid died but if they were actually taunting the animal they brought on a horrible chain of events.

[lolly]

50. Does anyone remember the polar bear incident?

This was probably about 15-20 years ago--three boys (about 10-12 years old) stayed in the zoo (New York, maybe?) after it closed, and then broke into the polar bear exhibit.

One got eaten, pretty much completely, if I remember, and the other 2 escaped.

People seem to think the animals in the zoo are like dogs and cats at home, I guess.

On edit: Yep, here it is. From 1987.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE4D7133AF933A15756C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

[Kingshakabobo]

52. Yikes! Gruesome story!

I think I'd rather take my chances with a tiger over a polar bear.