Zoo Director Says Tiger Wall Was Low, wall built in 1940

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gEclFYG2_eqGTpkeD4OknwUlgqEgD8TQ3J3G0

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The director of the zoo where a teenager was killed by an escaped tiger acknowledged Thursday that the wall around the animal's pen was just 12 1/2 feet high — well below the height recommended by the accrediting agency for the nation's zoos.

San Francisco Zoo Director Manuel A. Mollinedo also admitted that it is becoming increasingly clear the 300-pound Siberian tiger leaped or climbed out of its open-air enclosure, perhaps by grabbing onto a ledge.

"She had to have jumped," he said. "How she was able to jump that high is amazing to me." Mollinedo said investigators have ruled out the theory the tiger escaped through a door behind the exhibit.

According to the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the walls around a tiger exhibit should be at least 16.4 feet high. But Mollinedo said the nearly 70-year-old wall was 12 feet, 5 inches, with what he described as a "moat" 33 feet across.

He said safety inspectors had examined the 1940 wall and never raised any red flags about its size.

"When the AZA came out and inspected our zoo three years ago, they never noted that as a deficiency," he said. said. "Obviously now that something's happened, we're going to be revisiting the actual height."

That's crazy.

...was a bitch tho. They should have looked into that.

but I never dangled my leg in a tiger cage and said, "here kitty kitty kitty!"

I haven't seen anyone arguing that just because the bridge haven't collapsed for some years, no way it should have collapsed now.

This all is getting annoying, isn't it? Time for a break. tata

For passing the zoo, despite the fact that it didn't meet the required standards.

they are complicit and deserving of the same suit. You're right though, that certification org is in the crosshairs.

Particularly since the zoo just renovated the enclosure.

the Zoo.
The accrediting agency did not own the tiger.

not only baseball players using steroids!

maybe something changed that made the escape possible... :shrug:

:shrug:

moats are provided for recreation and entertainment for tigers, i guarantee you they are not a barrier, instead they are enrichment

i've observed the tigers swim and play with a beach ball quite a few times over the years at new orleans

their wall is obviously quite a bit higher than 12 frickin' feet tho!!! or i'd be tiger chow by now i suppose as many hours as i've spent there

Well, unless it is frozen. You can't push off from water. So she had to jump the moat and get high enough to be able to scramble over.

As I mentioned, the moat has a purpose, to keep a cat from pushing off the bottom near the wall. That is neglect in my opinion. It sounds like they were always negligent about that. I wonder if they had water in the moat back in the 1940's. Interesting.

eom

i once saw a friend's cat- and a smallish cat at that, jump from the bed- which was a box spring and mattress on the floor(no base), to land on the top of the open closet door in a single leap from a sitting start. it was quite an impressive leap. cats can jump.

so old walls are no longer adequate

The biggest, strongest cat in the world, in fact. You might say they ARE "normal" tigers on steroids. I don't think many zoos had Siberians until pretty recently, since they are pretty rare. I don't know whether they are much better at jumping than Bengals, but maybe it's possible.

your regular tiger on steroids. It's the largest.

Or maybe tigers have evolved since 1940?

33 foot moat?

there was no water in it.
So, what difference does it make that it was 33 feet? Probably would take this tiger a few seconds to run across it.

it's a wide and deep open trench that the animal isn't supposed to be able to leap across, or out of.

in fact- it would be worse if it DID hold water, because tigers swim.

not even back into the regular part of the enclosure.

Stupid humans by default become the most likely suspects in the Tiger's death.

larger than your other tiger subgroups.
Also, this particular tiger has mauled a keeper almost exactly a year ago, so it's not like the zoo had a perfect safety record when it came to tigers.

provided a barrier between them, much like wardens delivering lunch to prisoners in solitary. This keeper was a little careless, or distracted, but you can't blame a tiger for being a tiger. Research it.

"In June, the state fined the zoo $18,000 for a “serious accident related” safety violation stemming from a mauling of a keeper by the same tiger last December. The authorities criticized the zoo for its facility and procedures."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/us/27tiger.html?em&ex=1198904400&en=45a90abadf9fdfb5&ei=5087%0A

nearly insignificant in terms of liability. Probably because, as I said, the zoo had very impressive security controls already. A smart person would realize that, if they did their research.

The zoo was fined by the state.
Unless you have data that state usually fines zoos a lot more than $18,000, I am going to ignore what you say.

here. It doesn't really matter that it was a zoo, it could be a convenience store or an art gallery, so - unless you have data on how many and what kind of violations earned a whopping $18,000 fine or more from that state I am going to ignore what you say.

The zoo had spend 250,000$ on safety upgrades, and they had closed the feeding house for 10 months after the attack on the keeper.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/07/BAMMS0JIB.DTL&hw=komejan&sn=002&sc=782

That is at least as accurate as your charge.

#1. Was the zoo ORDERED to spend the 1/4 Mil. on upgrades? No. It was something they did to protect themselves from the inattention and/or negligence of future keepers.

walk (run?) across that 33 feet, and jump 12.5 feet up towards the boys doing the provoking.

That actually sounds plausible. House cats can jump up to 8 feet and they are pretty damn small. A Siberian tiger could jump 12.5 ft, no problem I'd guess.

It sounds as though the boys worked pretty hard to get that tiger so enraged. 67 years the zoo's sytem has worked, and now it doesn't. There's blame everywhere I'm guessing.....

Yep- but under the law, it's foreseeable that teenagers would behave this way. A known risk, if there ever was one!

i watched a friend's runt of a cat make at least a 6ft. vertical leap from a sitting position, to land on top of an open closet door. and she made it look effortless.

They are bigger than the rest. I wonder if the zoo has taken that into consideration.

We've noticed that at closing time the animals get wound up because they are waiting to be fed. Wonder if this was the case when those kids may have started taunting the cat?

in this day and age, it would seem like a no-brainer.

He was being interviewed yesterday about this tiger attack. He said from what he heard so far, there's something wrong with the story. He went over the typical Siberian Tiger habits and responses to things. He said he needed to know what the schedule at that zoo, when the animals were fed, who all was there and where were they etc.

I also find it extremely hard to believe that this might be blamed on the wall not being high enough. No one can convince me that it would have taken 67 years for a wild animal to excape from that enclosure. We still don't know the whole story. I wonder if we ever will!

height of the wall.
I listened to him yesterday, and he didn't understand as to why one victim was found near the enclosure, while the other two were found near the cafe. Well, as it turns out, the tiger attacked one victim, the other two fled, and the tiger followed them after she killed her first victim.

And if they tell the truth when they talk. I think I read that they were reluctant to talk, and that makes me wonder what really did happen.

the brothers run to the cafe has come from what the brothers told someone.

And they certainly know if they had been teasing the tiger. Like I said, not that that is any excuse for the tiger being able to get out and go after them. But there are some details that they surely could be providing, like if there was a dangling leg. There still seems to be confusion about that.

Police have said they got no evidence any legs were dangled.
And regardless of what the brothers tell or don't tell the police, I am pretty sure police would try to verify it by looking at physical evidence, and not just take the brothers word for it.

Perhaps the Tiger Pole-Vaulted out of the enclosure.