Tiger attack in San Fran

[The Beer Slayer]

One of the last dangers I anticipate...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... .DTL&tsp=1

Tiger kills San Francisco Zoo patron, injures two others

Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

(12-25) 18:34 PST San Francisco - -- One San Francisco Zoo visitor was killed and two others injured early this evening after a tiger escaped from its cage.

The tiger that got loose was fatally shot while it was attacking a patron, said San Francisco Fire Department spokesman Lt. Ken Smith.

The attack happened shortly after the zoo's 5 p.m. closing time at a cafe on the east end of the zoo, officials said. The tiger cages are located near the center of the zoo.

The condition of the two injured patrons was not immediately known. It was also not clear how the tiger escaped.

Officials at first worried that four tigers had escaped, but three of the tigers never left their pen, Smith said.

The killing happened almost exactly a year after a zookeeper was mauled during a public feeding. The state has ruled that the zoo was responsible for that incident because of the unsafe configuration of the cages.

This evening, shortly after the 5:17 p.m. report of the attack, shotgun-wielding police officers and firefighters gathered around the zoo's south entrance.

Firefighters were using tall ladders to shine flashlights into the zoo through the dense eucalyptus trees.

[troubleagain]

Very sad.

[Bill_Thompson]

I have been in that zoo. It was before my son was born. You could go into the building where the big cats were fed. It is kind of unusual for a zoo. You were right there, inches away, when they were given their huge blobs of meat. I remember the lion and lioness roaring at each other in a kind of powerful semi-foreplay that echoed around the room and the sound went through your guts.

[Bill_Thompson]

First of all, I have heard that the kid was harassing the animal before it managed to get itself out and seek revenge. The press is down-playing this.

Which is better than what humans do. This seems to be an act of stupid humans getting back at another species.

More proof that human beings are stupid animals.