I just saw your live report, I hope they find out how the tiger got out..

Tigers are meant to be in the wild….not in cages…sadly they react and it is usually deadly…

I feel so bad for the victims and their families….

Adam, how terrible. My prayers are with these families.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas. That Greta is on vacation. I think she should be working. What do you think? Just kidding she works hard and so do you and the rest of Fox. I appreciate all you do for us and the work you put into this blog and your job. Thanks for everything.

Finally, Housley doing something he’s good at….reporting on animal attacks in the Bay Area.

Very tragic! I am curious if there is an electric fence above the walled area or some netting like some zoos have. Several years ago a polar bear took the arm of a zoo employee in Cincinnati as she was feeding it. These animals are familiar with seeing people everyday, but, they do have an inner instinct.

Very tragic! I am curious if there is an electric fence above the walled area or some netting like some zoos have. Several years ago a polar bear took the arm of a zoo employee in Cincinnati as she was feeding it. These animals are familiar with seeing people everyday, but, they do have an inner instinct.

Animals are very creative…. my little dog 6 months old had broken out of her cage twice … and we dont know how she managed lol…. soo if a dog can get out of a metal cage i bet a tiger can do better than that…. and with the taunting being reported now go figure if you anger an animal the animal gets mad and dosnt like it and this can be seen with any animal….

A tragic way to spend on Christmas Day. Well, maybe they could make a nice throw rug out of the cat for one of the victims to take home.

SO much for completing an enjoyable and tranquil Christmas Day in the Calabasas hills! To even
begin to comprehend that on Christmas Day there were those who were tragically attacked. They went to the SF ZOO for a day of fun memories and were faced with such a nightmare. This must have happened accidentally??? Certainly couldn’t be intentional??? Hope you get to the bottom of this Adam for everyone’s knowledge and safety!!! YOU be careful!!!! Guess WE need a real national zoo awareness NOW!!!! To think I just took all of my grandbabes/family to the Santa Barbara Zoo while visiting…..yikes! Think about it………. What will visitors be thinking to carry to feel safe when next to visit???? How do you feel about this Adam???

I just heard the Fox News update that three men were “taunting” the tiger. Other news sources have confirmed the same thing. If that’s that case, and the three men who were attacked were the same ones that taunted that beautiful animal, then they got what they deserve. Play with fire; get burned. How said that people like “Mike” (here on this blog) react by wanting to blame the animal (make a rug out of her … very compasionate and humane you jerk).
Wild animals are not meant to be kept in cages and kept on display for our enjoyment. Sadly, no one seems to recognize that we, the supposed intelligent and superior species, are the ones to blame when we provoke a very natural action (reaction, as in this case) from another species! We can’t continue to live our lives with arrogance and impunity for our actions. It is so sad that we, the superior beings, can’t grasp that animals have feelings and emotions too and perhaps they don’t like being displayed, caged or, in this case, taunted, any more than we would (or have … ever heard of prison camps)? I feel sorry for the tiger; not the idiots who thought it was funny to taunt her.

I’m just watching you live here in Brisbane Australia with great interest in the story of the so called ‘killer’ tiger at the San Francisco zoo.

If the rumours about these men taunting the tiger are true, and they were hunted by the tiger in her efforts to exact her revenge, then good on her. Who knows what she had to endure at the hands of these stupid men. I wonder if they were sober at the time.

I don’t understand why this beautiful animal had to pay the ultimate price with her life and not be shot with tranquilizer darts instead. After all she was only behaving like any naturally wild animal would when cornered and threatened. What a tragedy all round!!!

Cheers and happy holidays to you all

TJ
Beautiful Brisbane, Australia

I am fairly sure I didn’t “react and blame the animal” Washburn. I just thought some good should come from its death. You know, like a toilet seat cover and one of those little rugs that fit around the base. As a side note, they said it was a “rare” siberian tiger. Are they talking about population numbers or how long to cook it? I would think it should be done with a teriyaki based marinade.

What a sad and pathetic thought that these three young men wanted to include in their “enjoyable and tranquil day” the taunting of a beautiful, wild, endanged and caged animal. My thoughts are with the cat.

Mike, being a gentleman and an adult, I won’t distinguish your childish, inane, rant with a reply other than to say, I pray that you never require the services of an animal lover as you, sir, will certainly be without.

TJ and Mary — Bless you and happy new year to you both! Now that the truth is coming out about the taunting, it’s clear that the “boys” involved got what they deserve. Too bad Mike wasn’t there with them. Perhaps we wouldn’t have to be reading his thoughtless drivel today.

Cheers to all-

Yes it is tragic and if in fact the men were taunting her, shame on them. But..for (symbol of higher power) sakes we should have the understanding that we can freely visit animal parks maintained with federal and state & city monies without worrying that an animal may break out of its barrier and strike us down if someone taunts it. Where were the caretakers, hopefully there is a video feed to review. Curious to find out the source of what said they were taunting the animal. Was it audible, body movement, throwing objects. What contitutes taunting…Ingrid Newkirk’s definition, or something from the city that takes the heat off of them??? to reproach or challenge in a mocking or insulting manner …just what were they doing

What constitutes taunting? It’s obvious with a female tiger….they must have been “cat calling”.

You right Washburn too bad I wasn’t there with them. Perhaps I could have helped them, you see I excercise my 2nd amendment freedom with a concealed carry permit. Instead of a tie, the score would have been:

Humans 1
Cats 0

The men felt a sense of security and safety while on the zoo property. We are led to believe this, a trust in the city ethics & responsibility. If in fact they did taunt her, how many thousands before, taunted the animals before the two brothers and the killed man. Do we blame rape victims?. Ridiculous to feel for this animal..the root of this is based on many more layers of political efforts, can’t unearth on a mere blog. Newsome & Co. should be blamed for not having an adequate enclosure. I say that the money they are supposed to get from the Hunters Point Project (San Franciscos Big Dig)(for the so called new stadium)be given instead to the victims of the Zoo mauling and the rest be used to build adequate cages, surveillance and leadership on the premises.

Washburn is an insensitive, closed minded, bigot. He is in clear need of sensitivety trianing towards humans.

I can see this topic is bringing out the best and worst in people.

They shouldn’t have been taunting the tiger. What do we expect though when our society makes it okay to pay money to see wild animals imprisoned for our enjoyment?

One the other hand, a life or severe bodily trauma is a very steep price to pay for a childish prank. I hardly thing these young men thought the consequences of their stupidity would be death and if they could have known they wouldn’t have done it.

I’m sure there is a lot of blame to be passed around but for now my thoughts are with the family that are missing their son. What a waste of life….both the tiger and the boy.

Comment by jameslatitude37
December 26th, 2007 at 7:30 pm

Now will someone believe me? A few weeks ago it happened to me. Walking home from a friends house, late at night, I was attacked by an escaped tiger. Was I lucky! In fact ‘Lucky’ is my nickname, the name friends know me by, as I only had my head ripped off. I was even luckier. My head was almost instantly replaced by a passing surgeon. but now I’m really angry. It appears the surgeon stitched my head on back to front. I’ve waited four weeks before saying anything because I’ve been happy with my new body, but having my head on backwards has become a bridge too far. The surgeon had put my head on the body of a young woman whose head was found inside the tiger. I’ve spent the past few weeks trying to come to terms with what has happened and to get in touch with myself, but now my motives are being questioned. All this just before Christmas. And my life was just starting to come together. I used to look forward to the start of a New Year but ever since the ‘incident ‘I’ve found myself looking back to the good old days. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll ever have anything to look forward to again. If only I could kick start a new beginning. Ten thousand dollars would go a long way to putting my life together. It would help me track down the surgeon for a start. Photo on request.

My thoughts are only with the beautiful Tanania. She was a precious 4 yr. old Bengal tiger who just wanted to be left along. Apparently she felt threatened by these 3 boys, most likely because they were harassing her without a doubt. How disgusting these boys were and are. They actually look like uneducated and ignorant kids and the father of the boy killed looks and sounds the same. Unfortunately many times you can judge a book by it’s cover. Just wait, when the true facts come out about what really happened, Tanania will be the hero. She was a precious 4 yr. old Bengal tiger who just wanted to be left along. Sincerely, S.Y.

Myself and my ,three / one half year old, son Wyatt were at the San Francisco Zoo only days before the tiger attack where Tanania the tiger seemed to be a normal playful tiger . We observed her watching the Rhino playing with his blue ball , She wanted to play so bad you could see it in her face and hear it in her voice , as she peered through to see him pushing and chasing the ball from pin to pin . She was a beautiful young Tigress that was a victim of her surrounding . I beleive her nature makes her innocent and the people around her

Has anyone considered the fact that this tiger recently had a taste of human blood when she mauled her keeper on the 23rd, just two days before this unfortunate incident! She had caught the keeper’s arms through the bars of her cage at feeding time. This could be enough for her to identify a human being as a prey and go after others when the opportunity presented itself. Zoo animals are taunted and provoked regularly by ignorant people and this tiger was probably used to this form of provocation. The tiger had lived in various zoos for four years and it was probably accustomed to heckling of this kind. However it never had experienced hunting and preying on any live creatures and the keeper incident could have awakened primal instincts which resulted in this tragedy. Tigers usually hunt at night and the fact that it was dusk and the area was deserted at closing time did not help the unfortunate victims.

Sue - I am only going to address your comments because misinformation like this is so damaging!

The keeper who was degloved by Tatiana happened 2 days and ONE YEAR before the Christmas Day Incident!! It happened in 2006, not 2007!!!

So, she sat in her enclosure for a year, just waiting for Christmas Night to attack the 3 men who just happened to be at her enclosure at the time? She didn’t just get out and then go to get any other animals…she was very focused on what she intended to do!

And of course I assume you know that the previous incident was because the keeper, as you say during feeding time, tried to distract Tatiana with one hand and then stuck her other hand underneath the cage bars to take away some of the food she had just given her! Instead of using a metal rod or something, or allowing her to have an extra piece of meat that day, she decided to take it back! How many DOGS who are our best friends don’t allow anyone near their food bowl while eating? She allows one arm to get degloved by Tatiana, and then in another brilliant move stuck her OTHER ARM inside the cage!!!

This is hardly something anyone with any common sense would do, let alone someone trained to work with them! But that is exactly what she did…Tatiana is hardly to blame, which is exactly why she was not destroyed.

Also, that “taste of human blood” is a myth…it’s not true! In fact, quite the opposite based on my own research after hearing this…because we don’t taste very good! LOL!! We may be easier prey, but zoo animals are very well fed. If you have seen any pictures of Tatiana, she was actually a little fat
Something else not entirely accurate…she was born in the Denver Zoo and was sent to the SF Zoo two years ago. She spent the first two years in Denver and the last two in SF. So again, I don’t think your theory that she spent an entire year after the previous incident just waiting for the “right 3″ human beings to be in front of her enclosure and chose that particular time to “go for it”. I assume this makes sense, right?

Just wanted to clear up any misconception since I see it so often and think it is harmful since people read it here once, then start repeating it other places and next thing you know…everyone is believing it!