Comparing the San Francisco Zoo Tiger Attack to Other Recent Episodes

The New York Post reported that the tiger that mauled to death a teenager was apparently provoked. A slingshot was found on location where the teenager died. The incident which happened on Christmas Day, occurred at the San Francisco Zoo. But this feline attack is no different than other feline attacks in the past.

In Denver, a zookeeper was killed by a jaguar in February, 2007. Apparently the zookeeper opened a door when the attack started. The zookeeper was not allowed to be in the feline exhibit alone with any large animal. The jaguar was reported to be a one hundred and forty pound male, which had no previous incidences in the past. The zoo policy to not have a staff member alone with a large animal was not followed. Similarly to the San Francisco attack, regulations were not followed correctly by the teenager who had a sling shot. These animals are acting on instinct, not reason.

In June 2006, a man ranting about God while shouting was killed by a lion. The incident happened in Kiev zoo. The man snuck into the lion's exhibit while shouting. It was reported he was shouting at the lion while running up toward them. Again, this incident is very alike to the S.F. attack. The man provoked the lion just like the teenager probably provoked the tiger. This is yet another example of why there are cages for these types of felines.

Another attack, which happened in June 2007, happened when a lion killed his caretaker in Mexico City. The animal's keeper apparently scared it, which caused the feline to maul him to death. This is another reminder of the dangers of these animals. If anything provokes them, then felines will take care of it by themselves. These are not animals that have the same intelligence as human beings. People know better while felines do not. It is part of their instinct to kill or dismember anything that encroaches in its environment. The extremely disturbing part in all of this is that the feline in all of these cases, has been euthanized. The lions and tigers were provoked and did not simply decide to kill a person for no reason.