RE the headline
I’m not sure. Let me ask my Wolverine.
Here Fluffy, here boy. Daddy has a question for his big beautiful boy.
Fluffy? What’s wrong? Fluffy NO!! BAD FLUFFY!!!
AAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!! {gurgle}
Really, there wasn’t enough information there to get a good sense of what happened. The teen was probably assured that it was safe, and the animal had a handler nearby. If anyone’s to blame, it’s the owners and handler, but we really don’t know the circumstances. It’s not unknown for tigers (or bears) to act kindly and safely all their life and then suddenly attack one day.
Really, there wasn’t enough information there to get a good sense of what happened. The teen was probably assured that it was safe, and the animal had a handler nearby. If anyone’s to blame, it’s the owners and handler, but we really don’t know the circumstances. It’s not unknown for tigers (or bears) to act kindly and safely all their life and then suddenly attack one day.
re: the op
Because people are basically morons?
Well, teenagers are anyway…
I can’t help but wonder where does one find a Siberian Tiger on this continent that doesn’t belong to a zoo? I mean an alligator is plausible because they are naturallly found here, but to my knowledge their aren’t tigers stalking the wilds of Kansas, are there?
I’m sooo going to hell for this though.
Haley, don’t forget to take that catnip out of your pockets before the pictures. You know how Tiny like to roughhouse.
Agh, double-post. Sorry, everyone!
I can’t blame the teen for this. If you’re at an animal sanctuary and they offer the opportunity to take pictures with an animal that is restrained by a trained handler, I would assume it to be safe as well. Now, the people jumping fences to get closer to the cuddly Polar Bears, those people have rocks for brains.
::inches away from Cosmodan to avoid forthcoming thunderbolt and/or suddenly-opening pit to Tartarus::
::inches away from Cosmodan to avoid forthcoming thunderbolt and/or suddenly-opening pit to Tartarus::
I think most of the time it turns out the animal was smuggled here and bought by someone intending to raise it as a pet. When their expectations of what it’s like to have a tiger are exceeded, they’re often abused or abandoned, and a sanctuary will step in to try and help the animal. Sometimes, though, the sanctuaries can turn out to be just as misguided as the people who bought the animal in the first place, overextend themselves, and end up providing an environment that is just as bas as, if not worse, than the pet’s original circumstances.
This line from the article:
particularly bothers me, since in my opinion, providing a sanctuary for an animal, and using animals for entertainment purposes, usually don’t fit together.
I’m sure there’s a good reason that double-posted, but damned if I know what it is. :smack:
Don’t forget the Idiots!
I think the real tragedy here is that the two relatively innocent parties are the ones who paid the price. The teen – who was undoubtedly assured by the handler that this was safe – and the tiger. The handler and whatever other idiots set up the park are the real instigators of this tragedy, and I don’t see anyone putting them down.
Have you ever SEEN a polar bear up close? The concept of the cuddly polar bear is stupid…but if you have ever been up close to one you’ll never want to go near one of those beasts without a whole lot of iron bars between you.
Those things are a hell of a bit bigger than people think they are…
Having also been around tigers up close while they’re being fed, same thing. I don’t care how safe you say this particular one is. No way in hell.
-Joe
I think that was sort of the OP’s point.
No matter how well-trained these animals are, and how tame they appear to be, there is nearly always a wild animal with thousands of years of aggressive, predatory instincts just below the surface. And we can’t really predict when (or whether) that wild animal will decide to show itself.
I agree with Ponder Stibbons about the wrong parties paying the price here. The tiger was just doing what tigers do, and the kid had presumably been reassured that the animal was perfectly docile.
People keep tigers as pets becuse this is America and we have FREEDOM!
Jesus died on the cross so we could be free and you damn intellectuals just try to take our freedom every chance you get.
If we can’t keep tigers as pets then the terrorists have already won.
Personally, i think we should import more Zebras so the tigers have something to hunt. 
Reuters claims it was a Bengal tiger. So who knows?
OP is kind of silly. They weren’t treating it like a pet. It had a handler. I’ve seen similar photo shoots. The tiger is usually on a heavy chain. Shit happens. Without details, that’s all we really know.
Many more people are killed by dogs and horses in the US every year. Why do we insist on treating them like pets?