Just imagine you’ve gone to the zoo. And just imagine the absolute terror you’d feel if you were confronted face-to-face with an escaped tiger.
Just imagine the lawsuit that will likely stem from this:
Two people attacked by a tiger Christmas Day remained in critical condition today, as investigators tried to determine how the animal escaped its enclosure and roamed the grounds of the San Francisco Zoo, killing one visitor.
The men were listed in critical but stable condition at San Francisco General Hospital after the attack by a 350-pound Siberian tiger named Tatiana.
“They’re doing well at the present time. They have both gone through their surgeries well. They’re both in stable condition,” Dr. John Brown of San Francisco General Hospital told “Good Morning America” today.
“These injuries are severe injuries, but they are very treatable,” Brown added. “These two gentlemen seem to be in good health. So I think they have a good chance.”
While authorities remain unsure of how the tiger escaped, it is clear that somehow the animal traveled over over a 20-foot wall and a 15-foot moat. Initially, authorities worried four of the zoo’s five tigers had escaped. Later they learned Tatiana was the only one loose.
Tatiana had been a problem before: a year ago she chewed off part of a zoo-keeper’s arm.
Note that zoos have become controversial in recent years. There is a strong anti-zoo movement.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.