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Animal Escapes

Sadistic people always used to terrify me with `Albert and the Lion`

Now you know why I have no sympathy with big cats

(and Im mildly worried at our local one, but its only a leopard so its only a mildly worrying big cat)
 
Any word on how it escaped?

From the reports I've seen the zoo was nearly empty, early dark and the victim was beside the cage.

My cynical first thought is the victim may have had a hand in the tigers release.
 
Naaah, the poor grateful brute would naver have done that, would they?
 
Kondoru said:
Sadistic people always used to terrify me with `Albert and the Lion`

Now you know why I have no sympathy with big cats

(and Im mildly worried at our local one, but its only a leopard so its only a mildly worrying big cat)

That tiger had already mauled a zoo keeper the year before - Every big cat has its own personality - I've petted a cougar and a 450 lb Siberian tiger named Qadesh, now sadly deceased, that was part of a night club act, that would rub its face against yours - you wouldn't believe the adrenaline rush that gives you! see: http://www.qadesh.com/
 
I now have a happy mental picture of the cornaries that would cause in the local council.

Offering to take a siberian tiger on school visits.
 
Believe it or not, you could sit on Qadesh, and the owner rode around with her in a large RV with a dog, his wife, and son, and he said the dog was more of a problem than anything else. Qadesh had also gotten out a few times by herself and been recaptured with no danger to anyone - she liked trying to open doors to see what was behind, like most cats, and she'd gotten into a factory on one of her trips, which must have given the workers there an untopable "you wouldn't believe what happened at work today" story.
 
Officials were at a loss to explain how Tatiana got out of the enclosure, which is surrounded by a 15ft (4.5m) wide moat and a 20ft (6m) high wall.

The zoo's director of animal care and conservation, Robert Jenkins, said: "There was no way out through the door.

"The animal appears to have climbed or otherwise leaped out of the enclosure."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7160713.stm


It's another teleporting cat! :shock:
 
It is indeed, this will explain many aspects of feline behaivior.
 
Scunnerlugzz said:
Any word on how it escaped?

From the reports I've seen the zoo was nearly empty, early dark and the victim was beside the cage.

My cynical first thought is the victim may have had a hand in the tigers release.

I heard today that the fence was only 12.5 feet high, which was shorter than it should have been, so the tiger was able to get over it without much difficulty. Word is that the 'victims' were antagonizing the tiger, throwing rocks at her, etc. and she didn't care much for it. :shock:
 
sundance67 said:
I heard today that the fence was only 12.5 feet high, which was shorter than it should have been, so the tiger was able to get over it without much difficulty. Word is that the 'victims' were antagonizing the tiger, throwing rocks at her, etc. and she didn't care much for it. :shock:
Hey, references, please!

The Daily Mail version here today says the Police are considering whether the tiger was deliberately set free:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... ge_id=1811
 
Isnt there enough private tigers under less security that they had to go pester a zoo one?

Think of the chaos you could cause with a private tiger!
 
Tiger death zoo walls 'too low'

The director of a US zoo where an escaped tiger killed one man has admitted that the wall around the tiger enclosure was lower than recommended.
The main accrediting agency for United States zoos recommends that the minimum height for walls at a tiger exhibit should be 16.4ft (5m).

San Francisco Zoo director Manuel Mollinedo now acknowledges that the wall measured 12.5ft (3.81m).

But he also said the enclosure had passed safety inspections.

The Association of Zoos & Aquariums - which recommends the 5m minimum height - examined the wall three years ago and did not remark upon its size, Mr Mollinedo was quoted by AP news agency as saying.

"Obviously now that something's happened, we're going to be revisiting the actual height," he added.

The 300lb (136kg) animal escaped on Christmas Day, killing 17-year-old Carlos Sousa and injuring two others.

She was shot dead as she loomed over one of the injured men.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7162290.stm

So perhaps it wasn't a teleporting cat after all...
 
Another angle

Victim may have helped zoo tiger escape
By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles
Last Updated: 6:52am GMT 28/12/2007

A tiger which escaped from its enclosure at San Francisco zoo and mauled three visitors, killing one, may have been helped out by one of its victims.

Police are also investigating whether the men who were attacked had taunted the animal prior to its escape.

Investigators found blood and a shoe inside the tiger enclosure, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, suggesting that one of the victims may have placed a leg or board over the edge of a 15-feet-wide protective moat to aid the tiger's escape.

Police and zoo officials have been unable to answer how the animal managed to escape from a pen separated from the public viewing area by a 20 feet deep moat and a wall taller than 20 feet.

The body of Carlos Sousa Jr, 17, was found with a slashed throat near the exhibit.

The other two victims, brothers age 19 and 23, who accompanied Mr Sousa to the zoo, were said to be present when the tiger escaped.

It is thought they fled, leaving a trail of blood which the tiger followed, the Chronicle reported.

The four-year-old cat, Tatiana, attacked one of the brothers before police were able to distract the animal and shoot it dead.

"Somebody created a situation that really agitated her and gave her some sort of a method to break out," Manuel Mollinedo, director of the zoo, told the Chronicle.

"There is no possible way the cat could have made it out of there in a single leap. I would surmise that there was help," he said.

"A couple of feet dangling over the edge could possibly have done it."

The paper also reported that "pinecones and sticks that were found in the moat might have been thrown at the animal.

"Those items could not have landed in the grotto naturally," according to the sources.

The two injured men were listed as serious but stable in hospital after suffering deep bites and claw wounds on their heads, necks, arms and hands in the Christmas Day attack.

Heather Fong, the San Francisco police chief, said a criminal investigation had been launched to "determine if there was human involvement in the tiger getting out or if the tiger was able to get out on its own."

The zoo remained closed yesterday.

Relatives of the victims criticised the zoo’s safety measures.

"They didn’t do enough for the public, because I think the zoo should be protective on both sides, protective for the people and protective for the animals," Carlos Sousa, father of the boy killed by the tiger, told CNN.

Mr Sousa also denied that his son "would do something like taunt animals".

"It’s unbelievable," he told ABC’s Good Morning America. "But only the evidence can prove that. And right now I can’t say much."

Last year the 21-stone tiger attacked a zookeeper during a public feeding session, ripping the flesh on her arm.

A state investigation blamed the zoo, which installed better equipment at the Lion House, where the big cats are kept.

Mr Mollinedo said after the attack he did not consider destroying Tatiana because "the tiger was acting as a normal tiger does."

He said there were no warning signs before Tuesday’s attack and the cat "seemed to be very well-adjusted into that exhibit."

http://tinyurl.com/ywqck2
 
Its a pretty dumb name for a tiger anyway....

...and what are they doing naming their animals anyway? I thought modern zoo policy was not to anthromorphise their charges.
 
Shoe print may hold clue to zoo tiger escape
James Bone, New York

A shoeprint discovered at the scene of the deadly escape of a tiger at San Francisco zoo was yesterday being investigated by police, as it emerged that the wall of the moat around the animal pen was almost 4ft lower than recommended.

The shoeprint was left on a waist-high fence separating the public from the moated enclosure from which the rare Siberian tiger, named Tatiana, escaped on Christmas Day, killing a teenager and mauling two of his friends.

Police will compare it to the shoes of the three victims to determine if any of them climbed over the railing and dangled a leg towards the 300lb tiger, possibly helping it clamber up the wall.

“We have obtained photographs of that shoeprint and we have also obtained three pairs of shoes from the victims and our forensic analysis will allow us to determine if any of the shoes match the print that is on there,” Heather Fong, the San Francisco police chief, said.

Police said Carlos Sousa Jr, 17, was killed as he tried to distract the tiger from attacking one of his two friends, brothers Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23.

Mr Sousa and Paul shouted at the animal as it clawed and bit Kulbir. The beast turned on Mr Sousa, slashing him across the neck.

The brothers fled, but the tiger followed the trail of Kulbir's blood for 300 yards and mauled them both near the zoo's cafe, before it was shot dead by four police officers.

After meeting with police, Carlos Sousa Sr praised his dead son as a “hero.” “He didn't run. He tried to help his friend, and it was him who ended up getting it the worst,” he said.

The brothers, who remained in hospital after surgery on their wounds, were initially hostile to police, refusing even to give their names or that of their dead friend.

The two are facing a court appearance next month on charges of public drunkenness and resisting a police officer after being arrested in September as they reportedly chased two men near their home in San Jose. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Mr Sousa Sr described his son as a close friend of Paul Dhaliwal. The pair, he said, shared a love of of hip-hop music and aspired to write music together professionally.

But the Dhaliwal family has reportedly refused to return repeated calls by the dead man's parents since the attack.

Officials at the San Francisco zoo, meanwhile, re-measured the wall of the moat at Tatiana's pen and found it was only 12ft 5in — nearly 4ft below the minimum recommended by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which accredits zoos in America.

Manuel Mollinedo, the zoo's director, announced plans to add surveillance cameras, new fencing and an electrified barrier around the tiger pen, which was built in 1940. “She had to have jumped,” he said. “How she was able to jump that high is amazing to me.” He has previously suggested the tiger might have grabbed on to a dangled leg.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 105873.ece
 
Tiger attack brothers 'were carrying catapaults'
James Bone in New York

The two brothers who survived an attack by an escaped tiger that killed their friend at San Francisco zoo on Christmas Day were reportedly carrying catapults.

The report in the New York Post fuelled speculation that the men might have provoked the 300lb Siberian tiger, named Tatiana, to attack, possibly even dangling a leg over the moat of its enclosure that helped it to escape.

The newspaper also said an empty bottle of vodka was found in the car used by the brothers, Kulbir and Amritpal Dhaliwal, and their friend Carlos Sousa Jr, who died from a wound to the throat.

However, Mark Geragos, a lawyer hired by the Dhaliwal brothers, dismissed reports that someone taunted the tiger as "an urban legend."

The Dhaliwals are considering suing the zoo, which has admitted that the moat's 12' 5" wall was almost four feet lower than recommended.

Mr Geragos said the brothers, who were mauled in the attack, tried to get help for more than 30 minutes before zoo workers finally called police.

He said the tiger escaped around 4:30 pm local time on Christmas Day and attacked Kulbir first before savaging Mr Sousa to death.

The brothers fled back to the zoo cafe 300 yards away where they had bought nacho chips earlier in the day to seek help. But the cafe had already locked its doors and they were unable to take refuge inside.

The brothers approached a female security guard, but she appeared "diffident" despite their appeals for help, the lawyer said. Eventually, someone inside the cafe called police at 5:07 pm.

Police logs show that the first reports cast doubt on the brothers' report. "Zoo personnel dispatch now say there are two males who the zoo thinks ... are 800 (police code for mentally disturbed) and making something up ... but one is in fact bleeding from the back of the head," the police noted at 5:10 p.m.

"They say they were acting crazy..." Mr Geragos told reporters. "I don't know how one is supposed to act after being attacked by a tiger."

Though released from hospital, the Dhaliwal brothers were not among the 150 mourners who attended a vigil for Mr Sousa on Saturday.

The zoo will re-open to the public today. But the remaining tigers will not be on display until an electric fence and surveillance cameras have been installed around their enclosure and the surrounding walls have been raised.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 123831.ece
 
This is all quite fascinating. The idea of dangling a leg to help an angry tiger escape is sort of, well, counter-intuitive. :?
 
You're just making excuses for the zoo/tiger.Vodka or no vodka,catapults or no catapults,the wall was too short & the thing shouldn't have been able to get out!I see $$$ in their future & rightfully so!
 
rynner said:
sundance67 said:
I heard today that the fence was only 12.5 feet high, which was shorter than it should have been, so the tiger was able to get over it without much difficulty. Word is that the 'victims' were antagonizing the tiger, throwing rocks at her, etc. and she didn't care much for it. :shock:
Hey, references, please!

Rynner, I don't have a citation, but "12 feet" (forget the .5) is the figure I've most commonly heard cited in American television and radio news reports. 16 feet is apparently the legal minimum and 20 recommended.

P. S. Your very own OTR lives just five blocks from one of the world's great collections of white tigers.

Five short blocks.

That's never bothered me before but now I'm boiling and eating my shoes so I don't have to travel to the corner market.
 
By the way, the word on the street here in the States is that this is going to be more than a civil matter. That is, one or more of the zookeepers is likely to face prison time, because they "knew or should have known" that the fence was simply too damned short.

Especially because they had been officially warned about precisely this again and again and ignored the warnings.

Fully a decade ago a young mother informed the Zoo that a tiger had its head and claws above the fence as she walked by with her infant in a stroller.
 
You're just making excuses for the zoo/tiger.Vodka or no vodka,catapults or no catapults,the wall was too short & the thing shouldn't have been able to get out!I see $$$ in their future & rightfully so!

from a purely legal perspective you're prob. right... but personally i can see something more like a darwin award... if they really were sozzled, climbing the fence, and using catapults on a 300lb wild animal, erm... what did they really expect would happen next :?
 
Red panda escapes from London Zoo
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 255906.stm

An inquiry has been set up to determine how the animal escaped
Zoo-keepers had to return a red panda to its enclosure at London Zoo after it escaped into Regent's Park.

The small mammal was spotted at 0300 (BST) on Monday by the zoo's night security as it climbed a tree.

Staff in the on-site living quarters stayed under the tree to monitor the escapee during the night.

By dawn, they made an unsuccessful attempt to coax the male red panda down. Eventually a tranquiliser was used and he was brought to safety.

The zoo has ordered an inquiry to work out how the animal escaped.

Martin Ellerbeck, a cameraman and director who lives near the park, saw the zoo-keepers with the red panda.

He said: "It looked pretty much under control. There were lots of people and it looked like a jovial atmosphere.

"I could not really see it. There was lots of police but I do not think it was going to attack anyone."
 
'Rampaging' ostrich killed on M56
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 315504.stm

Ostriches can reach running speeds of up to 45mph
One of two ostriches that went on the rampage after escaping from a farm in Cheshire has been killed on a motorway.

The 4ft (1.2m) tall birds, described as aggressive, went on the run in Helsby, near Frodsham, after getting free.

One of the pair died when it strayed on to the M56 and was struck by a lorry. The driver, from Wrexham, was not injured but the vehicle was damaged.

Officers recaptured the other ostrich in a field just after 1430 BST and it has been returned to its owner.

A spokesman for Cheshire Police said: "The RSPCA, the owner of the ostrich, and police patrols contained the second ostrich."

Ostriches are the largest living species of bird and cannot fly, but are able to run at speeds of up to 45 mph.
 
Zoo visitors stay indoors as curious gibbons go walkabout
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ire ... 87876.html

EOIN BURKE-KENNEDY

Tue, Aug 03, 2010

THERE WAS something of a role reversal at Dublin Zoo yesterday when some 200 visitors found themselves locked into the venue’s main restaurant after a pair of gibbons escaped from their enclosure and went on a short walkabout.

The siamang gibbons, Sasak and her baby son Gizmo, temporarily left their island habitat on the zoo’s main lake at about 10am yesterday.

Carrying her three-year-old infant, Sasak is thought to have swung from the island on to a low-hanging branch on the shore, in an apparent bid to sample life on the mainland.

While the primates posed little threat to their human cousins, zoo authorities took the precaution of locking down the complex while the gibbons remained at large.

Dozens of bewildered visitors were ushered into nearby buildings or directed to stay in the zoo’s main Meerkat restaurant while keepers attempted to cajole the runaways back home.

A Dublin Zoo spokesman said: “At no time were the gibbons out of sight of zookeepers and the pair never left the perimeter of the zoo. The gibbons were never further than five metres from their habitat and the pair returned of their own accord within 30 minutes.

“The animals were never in any danger and of no threat to anyone else. They are both back in their habitat in the zoo unharmed and everything has returned to normal.”

Gibbons are species of tropical forest apes, and unlike monkeys with which they are often confused, lack a tail, have a more-or-less upright posture and a well-developed brain.

The black siamang variety is native to the dense rain forests of Malaysia, Thailand, and Sumatra, and is the largest of all the gibbons, growing to about one metre in height. They are extremely agile and the most accomplished of all gibbons at walking on two legs.

Yesterday’s drama at the country’s most popular vistor attraction is the second unusual incident at the Phoenix Park venue in as many months.

Last month, one of the zoo’s prized Humboldt penguins was discovered by gardaí wandering Dublin’s inner city. The bird had been abducted by three men who had scaled the zoo’s perimeter fence.

Fortunately, the penguin was returned to the zoo unharmed.
 
280 crocodiles escape in Mexico
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/wor ... 32695.html

MEXICO CITY – At least 280 crocodiles have escaped from a Mexican refuge near the Gulf of Mexico after heavy flooding caused by Hurricane Karl, Mexican media said yesterday.

The endangered Morelet crocodiles were roaming in six coastal areas in the Mexican state of Veracruz and residents were told not to try to capture or kill them, El Economista reported.

The governor of Veracruz told reporters about 280 crocodiles were missing from the reserve in La Antigua. Some media put the number at closer to 400. – (Reuters)
 
Escaped pot-bellied pigs on the loose in Southampton
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-12201768

Vietnamese pot-bellied pig The pigs are believed to be of the Vietnamese pot-bellied variety

At least two pigs are on the loose in Southampton after escaping from a farm.

Police said they had received a number of sightings of the animals, thought to be pot-bellied Vietnamese pigs, since Saturday afternoon.

Officers said the RSPCA was dealing with the incident and have advised people to contact them if they see the animals, which should not be dangerous.

Police said the incident may be linked to a "breakdown in the relationship" between the couple which own the farm.

One of the pigs is white while the other is black and white.

A spokesman for Hampshire police said: "We have a number of sightings but they are still on the loose.

"It is a bit unusual but we have passed the case to the RSPCA.

"It appears there has been a breakdown in the relationship between the couple at the farm and somehow the pigs got loose."

A woman who contacted the BBC said she had spotted the pair behind Coxford Community Centre on Saturday.
 
Cow knocks down four in Ennis
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ire ... 24743.html
PAT FLYNN

Wed, Jan 26, 2011

A COW knocked down a garda and three members of the public after it escaped from a local mart and ran wild along a busy road in Ennis, Co Clare, yesterday.

The incident occurred at about 11am, when the cow was observed running along the Clon Road in Ennis, one of the main routes through the town.

The animal had escaped minutes earlier from the mart on the Quin Road and travelled almost a kilometre before it was forced back along the road.

The exceptionally agitated animal was so much out of control that efforts by a vet to put it down were abandoned for safety reasons. The cow was eventually herded back to the mart, where it still failed to calm down.

Only after a number of farmers got involved was the cow finally forced into a nearby field.

A garda who had been in the area at the time attempted to corral the animal but it ran him down and dragged him along the road. Several members of the public attempted to control the cow but they were also knocked over, witnesses said.

The garda and three others sustained minor injuries and did not require hospitalisation.

Despite repeated warnings from gardaí to members of the public to take cover, some people still attempted to stop the animal.

“This cow was rogue and was out of control. This was a serious situation and rogue animals like this can be extremely dangerous,” said Clare ISPCA animal welfare officer Frankie Coote, who was called to the scene.

“Members of the public should never try to approach an agitated animal like this. I was shocked to see the people ignored warnings from the guards to get out of the way. People should consider their own safety first, take cover and raise the alarm.

“The vet was called in to put the animal down but he couldn’t get anywhere near her.”
 
Cow that ran wild after escape from mart has lost her calf
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ire ... 58736.html
PAT FLYNN

Fri, Jan 28, 2011

A COW that ran wild in Co Clare on Tuesday morning was pregnant and has since lost her calf.

The carcass of a dead calf could be seen yesterday close to a bush where the cow rested on Wednesday and again yesterday morning.

The cow was placed in a field on Tuesday after she escaped from Ennis mart while being unloaded from a cattle box.

The agitated animal escaped from the mart at about 11am on Tuesday, and raced along the Quin Road towards Ennis town. Members of the public prevented the cow from travelling up Station Road, which would have led her straight into the centre of Ennis.

Instead the cow ran up Clon Road, where she ran down a garda and three members of the public, who sustained minor injuries.

The cow was eventually herded back along the Quin Road to Ennis mart, where, after running wild for several more minutes, she was guided into a field by a group of farmers. The cow later managed to move into another field by forcing her way through a galvanised gate and has remained in the same area since then.

It is believed the pregnant cow became agitated while being removed from a cattle box and that it had been the first time she was transported in a box.

One farmer said: “This cow was used to one person all her life; the farmer who owned her. She went wild because she was handled by people who didn’t know how to handle her. It was all new to her and she got spooked.”

Another mart-goer said: “I was here on Tuesday, and I could see that she was reluctant to come out of the box. She was probably never in a box before in her life and had only ever been between fields. All the excitement of the cattle box could have set her off, but the way they were trying to get her out of the box with sticks and all, they definitely frightened her.”

Following the incident, the welfare officer in Clare of the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals called for the animal to be put down humanely as she posed a danger to her owner and members of the public.

“The cow was rogue for whatever reason. She was wild and very dangerous. It could have been a far more serious incident,” said Frankie Coote.

A spokesman for Clare Marts confirmed that the cow has lost her calf, but would not speculate on how or why this occurred. Several farmers said they believed the animal became so distressed that her unborn calf died.

It is now believed the cow’s owner will try to move her back to his farm today.
 
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