# Escaped Tiger in San Francisco **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 26, 2007, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255 "2007-12-26T03:48:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/21 "2007-12-26T09:43:04Z")
The zoo sounds really dated. Do most zoos still keep their big cats behind iron bars as this one was? And it jumped a moat? Don’t they know how far a tiger can jump? Since they had had a problem before with their tiger enclosure, this is unthinkable. In a news account shortly after it happened, I read that they would have to wait for daylight to know for sure if anyone else had been injured or attacked. It happened right after closing. Thank goodness it wasn’t during peak hours. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/22 "2007-12-26T12:53:53Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Eulogy: The tiger was a great humanitarian. [/QUOTE] Yes, his lifelong dream was to serve Man. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/23 "2007-12-26T12:55:50Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] I subscribe to TigerNet. 😃 [/QUOTE] I read it [here](http://www.tigerbeatmag.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/24 "2007-12-26T13:20:59Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] This will likely be the end of that zoo because of the impending lawsuits so many other animals are also now at risk. [/QUOTE] Only because America is so lawsuit-happy. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/25 "2007-12-26T13:46:23Z")
[QUOTE=Desert Nomad] Only because America is so lawsuit-happy. [/QUOTE] Too bad we don’t have a [legal system](http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1680682,00.html) like Dubai. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/26 "2007-12-26T14:02:13Z")
[QUOTE=Desert Nomad] Only because America is so lawsuit-happy. [/QUOTE] You know, I’m not one to yell for a lawsuit at every opportunity, but if this zoo wasn’t taking care of their big cats properly and my family member got EATEN because of it, I think they’d deserve a little legal trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/27 "2007-12-26T14:03:40Z")
[QUOTE=Desert Nomad] Only because America is so lawsuit-happy. [/QUOTE] This isn’t a “my coffee was too hot for my crotch” lawsuit. This one might have some teeth. Someone died and two others were severely injured. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/28 "2007-12-26T14:37:35Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] This isn’t a “my coffee was too hot for my crotch” lawsuit. This one might have some teeth. . [/QUOTE] Poor taste. Very poor taste. Proud of you _for it_, m’ boy. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/29 "2007-12-26T14:53:05Z")
Never get off the boat. Absoultely god damn right. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/30 "2007-12-26T15:43:18Z")
[QUOTE=sugar and spice] Oops. When I saw the thread title I thought to myself, “Dopers are so welcoming! I hope **Escaped Tiger** enjoys his visit” [/QUOTE] _This_ is the joke of the thread! (All the other ones are obvious plays on “tiger eats human”.) But seriously, the zoo needs to be sued over this. While escapes may happen from time to time due to human error (which should be minimized by proper procedures), the enclosures should be absolutely unescapable by their inhabitants when locked. It’s not like the animal had some magic power we didn’t know about–its capabilities should be known and accounted for. I hope the zoo isn’t closed permanently because of this, but they need to take all animals off exhibit while they evaluate all of their enclosures. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/31 "2007-12-26T17:13:13Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] This isn’t a “my coffee was too hot for my crotch” lawsuit. This one might have some teeth. Someone died and two others were severely injured. [/QUOTE] Tatiana (the now-dead tiger) was a repeat offender. Almost exactly one year ago, she mauled a handler. The zoo got dinged by Cal-OSHA for unsafe work conditions, and the tiger was unbothered. I imagine that will give a good bit of ammo to the prosecution - the zoo kept an animal that was known to be more dangerous to humans than usual. Yes, tigers do what tigers do, but AFAIK, most zoo animals don’t keep a habit of going around trying to eat people. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/32 "2007-12-26T17:50:19Z")
Looks like a crappy zoo to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/33 "2007-12-26T17:58:29Z")
[QUOTE=Pullet] How the hell did you find out about something from half way around the globe before me, who works in the field under discussion and lives not 80 miles from the incident?? [/QUOTE] I found out via IM from a friend having Christmas dinner at her mom’s, 500 ft away from the zoo. “All is calm” was not applicable to this particular Christmas’ festivities. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/34 "2007-12-26T19:06:07Z")
I don’t think this is a zoo I’ll ever visit. I don’t want to be sitting at their snack bar and discovering that, e.g., the elephants are loose and on a rampage or the silverback gorillas are headed my way. That poor guy - torn apart by a tiger on Christmas day. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/35 "2007-12-26T19:12:08Z")
Since it is a slow news day, CNN has had this story on non-stop. Don’t they have any more stories about someone’s presents getting stolen or a family’s first Chistmas without someone who was killed in Iraq? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/36 "2007-12-26T19:16:26Z")
[QUOTE=Desert Nomad] Only because America is so lawsuit-happy. [/QUOTE] No doubt. Why is it that everyone always gets so sue-happy every single time someone slips, falls, and gets eaten by a tiger? ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/37 "2007-12-26T19:19:45Z")
Originally Posted by **Pravnik** > [@](#): > > _No doubt. Why is it that everyone always gets so sue-happy every single time someone slips, falls, and gets eaten by a tiger?_ Damn you, Pravnik, sprite hurts when it gets in my nose! Hmm, I wonder if I could sue you for that… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/38 "2007-12-26T19:25:11Z")
Well, it is just one of the million ways to deal with a raspberry killer… ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/39 "2007-12-26T19:29:39Z")
[QUOTE=dalej42] Since it is a slow news day, CNN has had this story on non-stop. Don’t they have any more stories about someone’s presents getting stolen or a family’s first Chistmas without someone who was killed in Iraq? [/QUOTE] Slow news day? _A zoo visitor got killed by an escaped tiger on Christmas Day._ I tend to think that would be a lead story regardless. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255/40 "2007-12-26T19:37:29Z")
Apparently the zoo folks were unaware that the wonderful thing about tigers is they’re bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy Fun, fun, fun, fun, OUCH! They should settle with the victims quickly and fairly. A lawsuit will not go well for them. The he-should-have-expected-a-tiger-to-eat-him-in-the-cafe defense is unlikely to sway an all human jury. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/escaped-tiger-in-san-francisco/431255.md?page=3)