Did you hear about the tiger who KILLED a person at the zoo? San Francisco?

siberian tiger



One zoo visitor was mauled to death and two others severely injured when a Siberian tiger escaped from its grotto at the San Francisco Zoo early Christmas evening and went on a bloody rampage in front of terrified zoo patrons.

The tiger - the same animal that chewed a keeper’s arm during an attack last December - was shot to death outside a zoo cafe by four officers who managed to distract the animal as it mauled one of its victims.

The horrifying violence, which occurred just after the zoo’s 5 p.m. closing time while dozens of patrons were still inside, began when the tiger somehow managed to gain its liberty from the grotto.

The animal, a 4-year-old tiger named Tatiana, did not leave the grotto through its only door, zookeepers said. The grotto is surrounded by a 15-foot-wide moat and a 20-foot-high wall. (cnn.com)

crazy….
**Porsche.. i live in the bay area.. and iv been to that zoo many times, i love animals… i was sad to hear they killed the tiger… its not right in my eyes..yes she killed a human (poor guy and his family) but we are the ones who keep these wild animals in cages.!.! was the tiger wrong or was is just acting in is own ways.

17 Comments so far

  1. ¡muy caliente! on June 16th, 2009

    I know, I heard the victim was a 18 or 20 year old Asian guy

  2. BluesFan1980 on June 19th, 2009

    Yes that is nuts I wouldnt want that for a Christmas present. My prayers going out to there families.

  3. RoflWaffle on June 20th, 2009

    No. I live under a rock, in a hole, deep in a cave.

  4. shmurfeegirl on June 23rd, 2009

    yes that was awful. That same tiger mauled someone last year around the same time.

    the wall was only 20 feet tall. . .gee, a great big tiger could’nt jump out of there huh?!?!?!

  5. Carl N on June 24th, 2009

    yeah that was pretty horrific. I understand that they are treating it as a crime scene. I guess the tiger didn’t get what it wanted for Christmas…. or maybe it did. It got to be a tiger.

  6. vince_gasbarro on June 25th, 2009

    wow, exactly on Christmas and some tiger just wasn’t in the spirit! that sucks!

  7. Michael M on June 26th, 2009

    was on TV news today 12-26 and again tonight on most of the home pages for the web services.

    tragic.

  8. Porsche on June 28th, 2009

    I am from the bay area - so it was on my local news this morning. It is so crazy… It makes me wonder, did they have to kill the tiger? Could they have done a tranquilizer instead? was there any behavior that led up to this that could of warned the keepers that he was violent. Its not really fair to say since they are taken from their natural habitat and then taunted all day by zoo visitors. Its so unfair for humans to destroy animals habitat then expect them to be civil like humans. If we were to walk into a jungle we better believe we aren’t safe and we will be prayed on!

  9. abenezer s on July 1st, 2009

    he developed a taste for human meat I guess

  10. beatle1909 on July 3rd, 2009

    What rare animal gets killed next?

  11. Cristarae on July 4th, 2009

    The tiger that was killed had already attacked someone previously, although that person didn’t die, Thank God! By the time people were aware that the tiger was out and had attacked three, one being dead, there was nothing to do but kill the animal. It was sitting right next to one of the men it mauled, when the police tried to come near the scene the tiger started mauling him again so the police shot him. They acted in the interest of the victim. At least, this waht I hear

  12. Franco on July 5th, 2009

    Obviously some one let the animal out and instead of arresting him, the idiots who go under the name “police”, shot the animal (They could have used tranquilizer). I hope that zoo will now be barred from keeping dangerous animals, for the next 50 years.

  13. Crusader A on July 6th, 2009

    Yeah, I heard too. But I think the cops did the right thing of killing the tiger, I mean the tiger attacked a person before and she did it again (she killed a 17 yr. old boy). I like animals too but she would of done it again.

  14. mabster60 on July 9th, 2009

    If those young men were taunting the animal or helped her to escape, they deserved what they got — I do not pity people who deliberately endanger the lives of rare animals. However, the zoo should have either put her down a year ago when she attacked one of her keepers or retired her to a restricted facility like the one Tippi Hedren runs. Preferably one with tighter security than Ms Hedren’s place. She means well but people have been hurt recently there too. :(

  15. Spell Check !! on July 12th, 2009

    If i was poking a tiger with a stick and
    insulting its mom and pulling its tail i would expect
    that the 600 pounds of it at the other end of the
    tail, which is capable of killing one ton bulls with
    its face and hands, might do me some damage at some
    point.

  16. Chritting on July 13th, 2009

    I go to school a few miles away from that zoo and was about to go visit. Death by tiger in the US is unlikely.

  17. selena650 on July 16th, 2009

    I was there at the zoo on Christmas. There were 3 guys. The 17 yr old guy was with his 2 friends and they were brothers. so he wasn’t at the zoo alone. I seen them while i was at the zoo and they seemed like they were there to mess around. So they must have been taunting it or throwing things at it that made it mad and wanting to kill. When i seen them walking around at the zoo it did seem kinda strange. I ate at the Terrance cafe and i been in the lion house and seen the Siberian tiger and like 2 hours later it ends up died and one of the guys died. can u believe that? I think it was there fault and they shouldn’t have made the tiger mad.

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