Strollerderby

3 young men, closing time at a zoo on Christmas day, a shoe print on the railing and the tiger only attackes them.  Of course they taunted her and helped her get out.  They thought it would be funny to have the tiger running around.  Captive tigers do not like unfamiliar places or people.  They do not tend to roam about in unfamiliar places.  They either taunted her or offered a treat to get her out thinking it would be like on the cartoons or Punkd.  I am sorry one died but tigers are dangerous, huge creatures.  

Autumn, they are not even sure if the footprint matches any of the boys shoes! The fencing around the enclosure is over four feet lower than regulation-- let's let the investigation continue before rushing to judgement. A set of parents lost a child apparently while trying to save his friend!

No..I think Autumn is right.....why were they there?

The zoo was open that day and it was just after closing time... there were other patrons milling around as well. This tiger attacked her handler a year ago.

I was at the zoo that afternoon, ironically we watched the cats be fed.  We left at 3:00, thank goodness.  I go there at least once a week with my son, and have gone there hundreds of times since I was a kid.  I was quite shaken watching the news that night.

The next day I decided we will be going back.  I feel terrible for the family of the victim.  Sometimes I have issues about captive animals.  I'm a vegetarian.  I won't go to the circus.  However, the staff cares about the animals, and I want my son to learn about animals.  When the time comes I will talk to him about the issues.

The zoo is not going to open again if it is not safe.  The last thing they want is anyone else to get hurt.  And, we don't know the whole story, obviously.

A few thoughts:

The zoo was built in the '30's.  If a cat was able to get out, why haven't any others done so in the past seventy years?

People are often there after 5:00.  It's a big place and you aren't swept out at 5:00.

I don't see why the fact that the tiger attacked someone last year is relevant.  These are predators.  That's what they do.

I find it interesting that the brothers told the victim's father that he wasn't with them, and that they wouldn't give their names to the police.  Obviously, they should have been safe, even if they were teasing the tiger.

forgot my other thought - the zoo is acredited and is inpected.  I wonder why the deficiency height of the wall wasn't brought up.  

It is truly strange that the zoo thought the wall was 18 feet all this time and it is only 12.

Wow, so the cats were fed close to the time of the attack!

I mentioned the trainer being attacked last year because I was making the point that a tiger doesn't need provoking to attack. They are wild animals and hunters.

I find it interesting as well about the wall, and that the moat hasn't been filled in a while. It is amazing since it's not like it's a small zoo, I mean, it's a major city's zoo! The director of the zoo was the director of the LA Zoo for a while and during his tenure there, a gorilla escaped, as well as a few minor attacks and violations!

The brothers not being cooperative to the police, etc. is baffling to me... you'd think they'd want to cooperate; perhaps they were up doing something stupid, but that is speculation (the enclosure should have been secure enough to protect them regardless)... also the 911 transcripts show that zoo staff initially considered the two "800" which is crazy when they were stating the tiger was loose!

As far as the father's call goes, I don't know. Maybe Sousa thought he'd get in trouble for blowing off his dad on Christmas... the whole divorced parents, sharing your time with both parents, having friends and growing up and just wanting to spend more time with friends thing. Who knows?!

punks thats what they were! and they got what they had comeing.!!!!!!!!i been going there all my life and nothing like that has ever happend .i think they should press charges on the survivers. it just takes a few punks to ruin it for every one!

Personally I think that zoos shouldn't have this kind of animal. I think it is great that hey want people to see their beauty, but lets face the facts, they just don't be long in a zoo.

This isn't a kitten, I don't think that they realize that this is a tiger they are dealing with. This feline can not be tamed/trusted. If anything they should be in animal reserves for two mager reasons (1) they can't be hunted (2)No one that has not dealt with these animals or people that arent experts with tigers can't go in and see them. Unfortunatley we then can't see how these animals are so beautiful, but at least they will be protected and well taken care of. This also goes for the tigers that are out in the circus.