Reuters North American News Service, December 29th, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The tiger that killed a
visitor and mauled two others at the San Francisco Zoo this
week may have simply scaled its exhibit's wall to attack the
three, a top U.S. tiger expert said Friday.
The 12 1/2-foot high wall built in the 1940s
was short of the recommended height for walls for modern tiger
enclosures, or a height of just over 16 feet urged
by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Ron Tilson, the association official responsible for the
recommendation, told Reuters in a telephone interview that a
Siberian tiger like the one at the San Francisco Zoo could
scale a wall of just over 12 feet.
"I've seen tigers, big male tigers, reach up to 12 feet
high," said Tilson, also the Minnesota Zoo's conservation
director.
A Siberian tiger on its hind legs could reach up to 11
feet, Tilson said, adding that the female Siberian at the San
Francisco Zoo may have jumped another foot to latch its front
paws on the lip of her exhibit's wall. That would have provided
enough support for the powerful 350-pound cat to push itself up
the concrete wall with its hind legs, Tilson said.
"I could understand how this female got her paws up and
then just scrambled up," he said.
San Francisco Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo speculated on
Thursday the tiger jumped the wall to kill Carlos Sousa, 17,
and maul his two friends, who are brothers aged 19 and 23.
The attacks on the three visitors from San Jose,
California, took place as the zoo closed on Christmas Day.
Police found Sousa dead at the scene. They shot and killed the
tiger after it chased down the brothers, who are now recovering
from wounds at a San Francisco hospital.
Actress Tippi Hedren, who operates the Shambala Preserve
for exotic big cats in Acton, California, doubts the tiger
scaled its exhibit wall and has never had tigers at her
preserve escape over the 14 to 15 foot walls.
"I think there is something else going on," she said in a
telephone interview, noting that tigers are ferocious when
provoked.
Investigators found a shoeprint on the railing in front of
the exhibit and are trying to determine if it matches the
attack victims' shoes amid speculation that the men might have
taunted the tiger.
They are treating the zoo as a crime scene and have not
ruled the possibility that the tiger latched on to a limb slung
over her exhibit wall to pull itself out.
San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong told reporters on
Friday that investigators found no evidence to suggest the
tiger had been intentionally released.
(Editing by Mary Milliken and Bill Trott)
