Incident Logs & Other Questions

The report from the San Francisco Chronicle makes me wonder how often the zoo actually has emergency drills.

Another question crossed my desk yesterday, what were three guys of that age doing at the zoo on Christmas day? Isn’t that unusual–wouldn’t they be hanging out with their buddies or people of their own age group?

Perhaps they were wildlife enthusiasts–but I doubt it.

Zoos across the nation are being asked about their safety practices and are reassuring the public. However, accidents do happen and so drills and training are essential.

The other issue that keeps getting raised is that regarding the zoo employee actions. First, only trained personnel can handle fire arms and tranquilizers. Second, tranquilizers do not work fast enough to safely contain a predator when there is danger to humans or other animals.

I am a bit shocked that it looks like the Security department delayed entry to the municipal rescue agencies–did they not have a mutual aid agreement in place? Were the rest of the non-animal employees left out of the disaster planning review drills?

Yes, there is only speculation over the taunting of the Siberian tiger , however the animal would have needed high motivation to climb out of her enclosure.

I get sick of visitor behavior at animal parks and zoos–maybe Tatiana will be the new poster tiger for “Don’t Disturb the Animals.”

BTW: Did anyone get their mitts on the Dhaliwal or Sousa cell phones to see if anyone was video taping or snapping pictures?

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This entry was posted on Saturday, December 29th, 2007 and is filed under Animal News.

Tagged with: san francisco tiger attack, siberian tiger, tatiana, tiger attack

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2 Responses to “Incident Logs & Other Questions”

1
Natasha
December 30th, 2007 20:52

Diane,

I discovered your website in the wake of the SFZ tiger tragedy and enjoy it very much.

For Tatiana, a tiger who never jumped out of her enclosure before, there had to have been a very powerful stimulus, wouldn’t you agree?

Carlos Sousa was reported to have a very large puncture wound in his throat. The newspapers didn’t say if it was in the front or the back. 2 of the 3 men were attacked in the front of Tatiana’s exhibit. It would be interesting to learn if Mr. Sousa’s puncture wound was in the front or the back because it doesn’t appear the 3 were running away from her when the attack occurred. They started running after the attack.

Carlos Sousa’s family did not know he was at the zoo. It was Christmas and they didn’t know where he was. That was kind of odd.
2
Ark Lady
December 31st, 2007 09:12

I agree, and so do most other experts.

Glad you stopped by bu hope you found my http://www.arkanimals.com website as this one is mainly for journalists–and the other is for animal enthusiasts!

When tigers attack, they generally jump up and grab the throat. It doesn’t really matter from which direction they come from as their jaw size would cover the entire area.

Death can come from severing spinal cord, ripping open the jugular vein, or crushing the windpipe–or all of the above.

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