Tatiana, a 300 pound Siberian tiger weighing about 300 pounds, arrived at the San Francisco Zoo from Denver a few years ago, with the hopes she would mate with a male tiger. No such luck.
Today, investigators tried to determine how she escaped from her enclosure on Christmas day and attacked three visitors. The men — one 19 and the others in their early 20s — were attacked just after 5pm on the east end of the 125 acre zoo grounds, suffering "pretty aggressive bite marks".
Translation? Critical but stable condition after undergoing surgery to have the deep bites and claw cuts on their heads, necks, arms and hands cleaned and closed. The San Francisco medical examiner had not been able to identify the one of the three who died as a result of the attack. The man did not have any identification and no one had called asking about him, but you can imagine after the attack visual recognition could be difficult.
The zoo's director of animal care and conservation could not explain how Tatiana escaped. The tiger's enclosure is surrounded by a 15 foot wide moat and 20 foot high walls, and the big cat did not leave through an open door, although investigations are still in effect.
The first attack happened right outside the Siberian's enclosure — the victim died at the scene. A group of four officers came across his body when they entered the dark zoo grounds.
The second victim was about 300 yards away, in front of the Terrace Cafe. The man was sitting on the ground, blood running from gashes in his head and Tatiana sitting next to him. The cat attacked the man again, and officers approached the tiger with their handguns. Tatiana moved in their direction and several of the officers fired, killing the animal.
Only then did they see the third victim, who had also been mauled.
The zoo added customized steel mesh over the bars of Tatiana's enclosure after an attack last year, as well as built in a feeding shoot and increased the distance between the public and the cats. The other four tigers at the zoo had not escaped.
How about some music to lighten the mood? By the way, it's not just for Le Tigre wearers...
Today, investigators tried to determine how she escaped from her enclosure on Christmas day and attacked three visitors. The men — one 19 and the others in their early 20s — were attacked just after 5pm on the east end of the 125 acre zoo grounds, suffering "pretty aggressive bite marks".
Translation? Critical but stable condition after undergoing surgery to have the deep bites and claw cuts on their heads, necks, arms and hands cleaned and closed. The San Francisco medical examiner had not been able to identify the one of the three who died as a result of the attack. The man did not have any identification and no one had called asking about him, but you can imagine after the attack visual recognition could be difficult.
The zoo's director of animal care and conservation could not explain how Tatiana escaped. The tiger's enclosure is surrounded by a 15 foot wide moat and 20 foot high walls, and the big cat did not leave through an open door, although investigations are still in effect.
The first attack happened right outside the Siberian's enclosure — the victim died at the scene. A group of four officers came across his body when they entered the dark zoo grounds.
The second victim was about 300 yards away, in front of the Terrace Cafe. The man was sitting on the ground, blood running from gashes in his head and Tatiana sitting next to him. The cat attacked the man again, and officers approached the tiger with their handguns. Tatiana moved in their direction and several of the officers fired, killing the animal.
Only then did they see the third victim, who had also been mauled.
The zoo added customized steel mesh over the bars of Tatiana's enclosure after an attack last year, as well as built in a feeding shoot and increased the distance between the public and the cats. The other four tigers at the zoo had not escaped.
How about some music to lighten the mood? By the way, it's not just for Le Tigre wearers...
And for you sickos, here's some of the more recent captive animal escapades:
Aug. 7, 2002: A catwalk over a shark tank collapses at New Orleans' Aquarium of the Americas, throwing 10 visitors into the water. The 10, including four children, thrash around in terror for up to 15 minutes with the sharks swimming beneath their kicking feet before they were pulled out. No one is seriously hurt, but a who generation of children who didn't see Jaws are scarred for life.
Sept. 28, 2003: A 300 pound gorilla named Little Joe escapes from its enclosure at Boston's Franklin Park Zoo, attacking a 2-year-old girl and a teen-age zoo employee, before being tranquilized. It was the second time in two months that the animal escaped, answering the question where does a 300 pound gorilla escape from.
Oct. 3, 2003: Illusionist Roy Horn is severely mauled by a tiger during the Siegfried and Roy nightly show at The Mirage casino in Las Vegas, biting him in the neck and dragging him off stage. Rumor is Siegfried was planning to do the same thing.
March 18, 2004: A 340 pound gorilla named Jabari breaks out of its enclosure at the Wilds of Africa exhibit at the Dallas Zoo and goes on a 40-minute rampage through a forest, snatching up a toddler with his teeth and attacking three before being shot and killed by officers. Folks, you wanted the African wilds - you got it!
July 13, 2004: A state wildlife officer fatally shoots a 600 pound tiger that escaped from the property of former Tarzan actor Steve Sipek in Loxahatchee, FL.
March 3, 2005: Two chimpanzees at the Animal Ranch wildlife sanctuary near Bakersfield, CA attack a man and his wife, maiming the man, before being shot to death. What can be worse than a monkey maiming and living in Baco?
Sept. 10, 2005: Three chimpanzees from Zoo Nebraska are shot and killed after they escape from their enclosure and could not be captured. Really? Caught them once and that was all you could muster? The only thing as inept as the zookeepers are the cleaning crew - a padlock on the cage was not completely closed after being cleaned, officials said.
Nov. 29, 2006: Trainer Kenneth Peters is bitten and held underwater several times by a 7,000-pound killer whale during a show at Shamu Stadium at SeaWorld Adventure Park. Peters escaped with a broken foot. The 17 foot orca is the dominant female of SeaWorld San Diego's seven killer whales. She had attacked Peters on two prior occasions in 1993 and 1999. Guess he should return her calls...
Dec. 22, 2006: The National Zoo in Washington is briefly shut down after a clouded leopard bolts from a wire-mesh enclosure. It is foundcatnapping snoozing just outside the exhibit 30 minutes later.
Also, Tatiana gave warning she'd do something brutal, when she reached through her cage's iron bars and mauled a female zookeeper during a public feeding at the San Francisco Zoo.
Feb. 24, 2007: A 140-pound jaguar named Jorge fatally mauled a zookeeper at the Denver Zoo before being shot. Zoo officials said later that zookeeper Ashlee Pfaff had violated the rules by opening the door to the animal's cage. Wow, what a harsh reprimand...could they just write her up?
UPDATE: So, maybe that wall was a bit too low...
Aug. 7, 2002: A catwalk over a shark tank collapses at New Orleans' Aquarium of the Americas, throwing 10 visitors into the water. The 10, including four children, thrash around in terror for up to 15 minutes with the sharks swimming beneath their kicking feet before they were pulled out. No one is seriously hurt, but a who generation of children who didn't see Jaws are scarred for life.
Sept. 28, 2003: A 300 pound gorilla named Little Joe escapes from its enclosure at Boston's Franklin Park Zoo, attacking a 2-year-old girl and a teen-age zoo employee, before being tranquilized. It was the second time in two months that the animal escaped, answering the question where does a 300 pound gorilla escape from.
Oct. 3, 2003: Illusionist Roy Horn is severely mauled by a tiger during the Siegfried and Roy nightly show at The Mirage casino in Las Vegas, biting him in the neck and dragging him off stage. Rumor is Siegfried was planning to do the same thing.
March 18, 2004: A 340 pound gorilla named Jabari breaks out of its enclosure at the Wilds of Africa exhibit at the Dallas Zoo and goes on a 40-minute rampage through a forest, snatching up a toddler with his teeth and attacking three before being shot and killed by officers. Folks, you wanted the African wilds - you got it!
July 13, 2004: A state wildlife officer fatally shoots a 600 pound tiger that escaped from the property of former Tarzan actor Steve Sipek in Loxahatchee, FL.
March 3, 2005: Two chimpanzees at the Animal Ranch wildlife sanctuary near Bakersfield, CA attack a man and his wife, maiming the man, before being shot to death. What can be worse than a monkey maiming and living in Baco?
Sept. 10, 2005: Three chimpanzees from Zoo Nebraska are shot and killed after they escape from their enclosure and could not be captured. Really? Caught them once and that was all you could muster? The only thing as inept as the zookeepers are the cleaning crew - a padlock on the cage was not completely closed after being cleaned, officials said.
Nov. 29, 2006: Trainer Kenneth Peters is bitten and held underwater several times by a 7,000-pound killer whale during a show at Shamu Stadium at SeaWorld Adventure Park. Peters escaped with a broken foot. The 17 foot orca is the dominant female of SeaWorld San Diego's seven killer whales. She had attacked Peters on two prior occasions in 1993 and 1999. Guess he should return her calls...
Dec. 22, 2006: The National Zoo in Washington is briefly shut down after a clouded leopard bolts from a wire-mesh enclosure. It is found
Also, Tatiana gave warning she'd do something brutal, when she reached through her cage's iron bars and mauled a female zookeeper during a public feeding at the San Francisco Zoo.
Feb. 24, 2007: A 140-pound jaguar named Jorge fatally mauled a zookeeper at the Denver Zoo before being shot. Zoo officials said later that zookeeper Ashlee Pfaff had violated the rules by opening the door to the animal's cage. Wow, what a harsh reprimand...could they just write her up?
UPDATE: So, maybe that wall was a bit too low...
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