Follow-up on the tiger attack at the SF Zoo

[gategrrl]

 I'm ten days late with this, but, oh well. Apparently the three youths (they were NOT children) taunted the Siberian tiger by standing up on the railing/fence just outside its enclosure. They all had alcohol and pot in their systems, and it's very possible they were throwing things at the animal.

The article reports that there had been reports through that day of a group of young men being rowdy and disturbing the peace (such as it is, in the SD zoo), but no one put it together or did anything about it.

I think the zoo has to have stricter policies on public drunkeness and rowdy behavior, not to mention automatically ejecting families with children who persist in bothering the animals in their enclosures. As the tiger showed, not all these animals are defenseless, but they have little to NO power behind their fences to get back at people who drive them mad and trigger their hunting or running reflexes.

This story reminds me of another one - where a little girl in a Minnesota zoo jumped the fence, was bitten by a meerkat defending its territory. ALL the meerkats in that encloser had to be killed in order to be tested for rabies. Why? Because the 9 year old's parents didn't want her to get a rabies shot, even though she made a real effort to touch them. Five meerkats, murdered because of selfishness. I hope that family were given a bill for the cost of replacing those poor animals. Three of them were kits.

It's too bad there isn't a Stupid Test before people go into the zoo. It's as if some people have a short circuit in the brains that make them think that just because an animal is behind bars, or plexiglass, or whatever, that it's used to people and will have a song and dance at the ready. Fortunately, I think most people wouldn't dream of taunting the animals (not intentionally, anyway) or provoking them. But yeah, Darwin, baby. Darwin works. If it has to be a tiger making Darwin's law work, so be it.

Comments

[gymnastgirly.livejournal.com]

All I can say that doesn't involve profuse swearing is those people are stupid idiots.

The meerkat case the other year made me cry when I heard about it :(

[ladycrim.livejournal.com]

I remember the meerkat story. It got me SO angry that the girl's parents got their way and the meerkats were killed.

BTW, I believe you mean 'SF Zoo'. When I first read the title, I thought, "There's been an attack at the San Diego Zoo?"

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Whoops, you're correct. I defaulted to the SD zoo, which is a wonderful zoo. I've never been to the SF zoo, myself.

Yeah, totally disgusting behavior from the parents of the girl. Hey, when you do something stupid and shitty like that, there should be consequences. And not to the animals.

[amycooper.livejournal.com]

Stupidity.

Taunting animals in the zoo is never cool. But taunting animals that, until recent times, feasted on us is really stupid.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Like I said: Darwin! ;-)

Some people are complete and utter idiots. It doesn't help that in the tiger instance, the wall was too short, but since the tiger hadn't breached the wall before, I can only conclude that without badgering and taunting, it wouldn't have *thought* to try going over that wall.

The picture that comes into my mind, weirdly, must come from a wildlife show: a juvenile baboon teasing a hyena, or leopard - and then getting it's ass eaten toot-sweet.

[therentgirls.livejournal.com]

I never cease to be amazed by the sheer stupidity and irresponsibility of some folks. I remember the meerkat story. It was so sad.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine the frustration zoo workers feel. There they are, caring, feeding and keeping the animals healthy and hopefully mentally balanced. And then come along some members of human society to fuck it all up.

It's no wonder that I've heard of rescue centers that explicity do not allow visitors except on appointment-only schedules, closely supervised by a guide.

[lapislaz.livejournal.com]

I was at the SD Zoo one day and walked up to the orangutan exhibit, and there was a woman there taunting a female 'rang with a lifelike stuffed baby 'rang. This less than a hundred yards away from an exhibit consisting of a huge piece of shattered plexiglass that another primate had shattered by throwing a rock at it.

We went and found a zookeeper and told her what was going on, and she took off for the exhibit doing about Warp 8 and swearing under her breath.

Some people just have to learn the hard way. It's a shame they get to breed before that happens.

[szeretni.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a great thing to do, to report it I mean! :) Good on you! :) I like it when people react to things that are wrong, too many people just don't care...

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I probably would have sent my husband to look for a zoo worker, and yelled at the woman in the meantime, and maybe filming her doing it, too, for proof.

I can get real aggressive when it comes to animals that can't defend themselves. And kids. I just lose it.

[betacandy.livejournal.com]

I think it's great to report it or tell the person yourself what you think.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

I'm with Szeretni - I'm glad you did something about it, and were able to find a keeper. Did you see the woman getting a dressing down? Hopefully they kicked her ass out of there at warp speed. Zoos don't need the money from asswipes like that person.

Edited to add: And, I'd bet that orangutan would test higher on the IQ test than her tormentor!

[szeretni.livejournal.com]

*shakes head* Man, some people are just too stupid...

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

But...is it nature, or nurture? ;-)

Huge discussion in itself!

[khek.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think the tiger was completely justified, and should have been given an award rather than killed.

My sister is a zookeeper, and from her stories, the number of idiots at zoos is way more than the people who appreciate the animals. Most people bang on the glass, or make weird noises, or throw things to get the animals attention instead of just observing them. Plus, when people ARE doing stupid things, they"re usually dangerous to people too. It isn"t easy to tell them to cut it out. Zoos need more security, and most of them just don"t have the money to fund that.

(Sorry about the " marks...I did something stupid, and now my apostrophe brings up a "find on page" bar, not an actual apostrophe. Argh!)