Meant more as a 'journalism' shot, as a reminder of the beautiful Siberian tiger, Tatiana, at the SF Zoo, shot by four SFPD around 5:20PM on Christmas Day as she attacked a second victim who likely had taunted her (though the cat should still NOT have been able to escape its enclosure).
Here she paces at about 3 or 3 1/2 years of age, having just been transfered from the Denver Zoo, and months before opportunistically attacking a keeper/feeder who had raised other tigers from kittns, and forgot the nature of the beast (but at which point this tiger, Tatiana, should have have transfered yet again, to a wildlife park). Subsequently, this display was closed for months as they added chutes for feeding all the big cats, and a narrow 'chickenwire' to the bars. A beautiful animal, killed on Christmas for acting out its nature.
AJ - I think it's even restrictive in the WPA displays. What the zoo did was mix up the animals and displays, so one day or week they'd be in one, another over in another. It was called the Lion House, because lions were also housed in similar displays. They added an extension for the tigers, specifically, a separate enclosure with lots of trees and such. It can be misleading, but they seemed very content in those cages. One keeper would reach in and scratch the back of a lionness - not the tigress' though. Some were hand raised from kittens by zoo personnel, including the handler who was mauled by Tatiana, who reached all the way under into her cage forgetting that Tatiana was no house cat. I got the sense that the keepers didn't appreciate that these animals can turn for seemingly no reason at all. Tame, as it were, one minute, raging the next.
One wishes they had more room to roam. There had been plans to expand to larger open displays. But the zoo spent its money on such a display for the giraffes and zebras, and then perhaps mismanaged the rest of the money? While the Indian 'thuggies', these two surviving brothers who already had a court date in a few weeks on another charge, look as culpable as can be, even if they were thowing darts at Tatiana, she should never have been able to escape. The enclosures simply were not safe if the animal were enraged, which is something I never saw in my visits, and/or the public were able to intrude partway into the 'cage'. The animals have to be protected from some clowns in the public as much as the public from these large dangerous cats, and other zoo animals.
It wasn't too long ago that similar clowns literally jumped a fence and stole some koalas as 'presents' for their girlfriends. People speak of the 'Darwin Awards' and maybe this kid was awarded his. But it's a tragedy nonetheless. And as soon as Tatiana, guiltless in this, took that life, her life was forfeit despite whatever 'plans' the zoo had in place to 'tranq' her (apparently they had an entire section in the 'employee handbook' on how to deal with this, and specifically an escaped tiger, which apparently none of the employees read).
Thanks for posting this shot of a beautiful animal, Joe. As you say, she should not have been able to escape, but nor should she be blamed for what she did - she was presumably being her "natural" self (as far as was possible in captivity). And surely she should not have paid the ultimate price herself, unless she was continuing to cause a threat. And while I support attempts to preserve these wonderful creatures in captivity, your picture is really rather depressing, showing a tiger in what appears to be a very unnatural and restrictive environment.
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