Story originally printed in the Vernon Broadcaster or online at www.vernonbroadcaster.com
Published - Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Outsider: Using ‘taunting’ as an excuse for tiger’s attack is pathetic
In a year that was filled with bizarre news stories, perhaps the most frightening and sad occurred Christmas Day, when a tiger escaped its enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo, killing a boy and mauling two others.
Carlos Sousa Jr. died trying to distract the tiger from mauling his friend. The distraction worked, but young Mr. Sousa couldn’t escape the 350-pound Siberian Tiger’s grasp.
Brothers Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, were both severely mauled by the tiger before it was eventually shot to death by police officers.
The oddest thing about this story is the spin some pundits are putting on it saying that the tiger was taunted to attack the humans.
What planet are we living on?
A zoo, any zoo, should have as rule No. 1 -- There’s no possible way any animal in the zoo can harm a visitor.
Blaming people for taunting animals at a zoo is insanity. I’ve been to a zoo or two in my day and at every turn people are either taunting or enticing animals.
Five years ago, I remember going to the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison and going through the great ape area. A zoo official was frantically telling everyone “Turn your back to the orangutan!” as we walked through. Apparently somebody had taunted the orangutan and it was freaking out.
Back to the tiger tragedy -- what a cop out -- “Oh, they taunted the tiger, that’s what caused the incident.”
According to the Associated Press, “San Francisco Zoo Director Manuel A. Mollinedo acknowledged that the wall around the animal's pen was just 12 1/2 feet high, after previously saying it was 18 feet. According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the walls around a tiger exhibit should be at least 16.4 feet high.
“Mollinedo said it was becoming increasingly clear the tiger leaped or climbed out, perhaps by grabbing onto a ledge. Investigators have ruled out the theory the tiger escaped through a door behind the exhibit at the zoo, which remained closed Friday.
“She had to have jumped," he said. "How she was able to jump that high is amazing to me.’”
Amazed? Mollinedo should be ashamed.
Negligence on the part of the zoo that didn’t have a proper-sized safety zone between the animal and spectators was the cause.
One thing that I find difficult to understand is when people consistently show that they care more about animals than humans. The zoo messed up, it’s simple as that in my opinion.
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Inspired by Time Magazine, here are a couple top 10 lists...
Top 10 most annoying
people of 2007
10. Benny Hinn
9. David Hasselhoff
8. Brittney Spears
7. Larry Craig
6. Hillary Clinton
5. Peyton Manning
4. Michael Nifong
3. Donald Trump
2. Rosie O’Donnell
1. Paris Hilton
Famous people
who passed away in 2007
10. Michael Jackson (The beer expert, not the singer.)
9. Anna Nicole Smith
8. Evel Knievel
7. Joel Siegel
6. Don Ho
5. Charles Nelson Reilly
4. Merv Griffin
3. Richard Jewell
2. Art Buchwald
1. Norman Mailer
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We head into 2008 wondering if there is any justice in this world.
Learning that Benazir Bhutto was assassinated last Thursday was so sad.
Pakistan is a lawless haven for terrorists. It’s so hard to believe that President Bush continues to support thug President Pervez Musharraf.
Our foreign policy is such a mess. I was truly hoping Bhutto would become the duly elected leader of Pakistan. Right now I’d have to say that Al Qaeda rules Pakistan. Every day Osama bin Laden grows stronger. The whole mess makes me ill.
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This has been a week of looking for silver linings. Right now there don’t appear to be many.
Perhaps we all have to look to ourselves and project a positive outlook on the start of a new year.
In the spirit of that statement, I wish everyone a healthy and happy 2008.
E-mail Matt Johnson at matt.johnson@lee.net
All stories copyright 2006 Vernon Broadcaster and other attributed sources.