Why Tigers Attack

I agree with mayzydaizy. If it is shown that these boys provoked the attack, then the zoo should not bear the liability of their actions.

mike1964 : No you gave me that distinction, and thank you. I am sorry that most of what I said went beyond you, but there were a few people that got the logic. In any case you have not made any comments that require any response from me. Most of the people posting here are anti-hunting, and indeed probably anti-human. You can cast your lot with them if you choose. Bottom line, I feel no remorse for an animal which kills a human being, taunted or otherwise.

mike1964 : No you gave me that distinction, and thank you. I am sorry that most of what I said went beyond you, but there were a few people that got the logic. In any case you have not made any comments that require any response from me. Most of the people posting here are anti-hunting, and indeed probably anti-human. You can cast your lot with them if you choose. Bottom line, I feel no remorse for an animal which kills a human being, taunted or otherwise.

mike1964 : No you gave me that distinction, and thank you. I am sorry that most of what I said went beyond you, but there were a few people that got the logic. In any case you have not made any comments that require any response from me. Most of the people posting here are anti-hunting, and indeed probably anti-human. You can cast your lot with them if you choose. Bottom line, I feel no remorse for an animal which kills a human being, taunted or otherwise.

petasucks-I am still waiting for a response to my previous remark. You assume too much-I am not a vegetarian nor am I an anti-hunting folk. Where are you getting this from? And why are you mentioning all of the lonely, downtrodden, and helpless people in the world. What on earth do they have to do with this forum?
I thought you called yourself smart.

petasucks has a valid observation, wilderness is not for the meek. In fact as the animal lovers repopulate this country with predators like the wolf and mountain lion, we can expect to see an increase in attacks against humans which will be fatal. I have to wonder what these people are thinking since even the first inhabitants of this land, Native Americans, sought to protect their people from these very same predators by killing them whenever they could. Reverence for a predator does not equal protection. As humans, we have only our brains to protect us, the same brains that invented the spear, bow and gun. Living among predators is not a decision the public should be placed in without full awareness and access to remedy. This death should be a wake up call to all who live in close proximity to lands where predators are likely to survive in given the fact our country has a policy of reintroduction and then secretly adoring their acts..

Everyone is focusing on whether or not the tiger should have been shot but I think the thing that we need to look at is our overall treatment of these animals. If we had not put these animals in a zoo to begin with, then none of this would have happened. We have had more than enough incidents involving wild animals in captivity that we should know by now that the two do not mix. We need to set aside sanctuary land and allow them to live their lives in peace.

Wild animals SHOULD always be free! NO reason to keep them in cages for the pleasure and enjoyment of human beings! We have the National Geographic, Animal Channel and Discovery channel to learn about them!

Wild animals SHOULD always be free! NO reason to keep them in cages for the pleasure and enjoyment of human beings! We have the National Geographic, Animal Channel and Discovery channel to learn about them!

Wild animals SHOULD always be free! NO reason to keep them in cages for the pleasure and enjoyment of human beings! We have the National Geographic, Animal Channel and Discovery channel to learn about them!

It isn't an issue of bleeding hearts. The tiger was taunted. Think about it: There were about 40 people in the zoo and the tiger attacks three people who were 17, 19, and 23; were friends; and came to the zoo together. Moments before the attack they were all at the tiger enclosure. They did something to bring themselves to the attention of this tiger. Well, they got what they wanted - and they paid the price. The tragedy here is that the tiger, who was minding its own business, had to pay the price also.
For those of you who don???t believe we should have tigers in zoos, I am inclined to agree with you. However, if we left them in their natural environment they would be killed to the point of extinction by people who are profoundly ignorant. The dead tiger body parts would go to make ???medicines??? for the Chinese. This is the same reason rhinos, and several other species, are endangered.
For those of you who believe that, because we are human, we somehow have a lock on existence on this planet, guess again. We are sentient (aware of ourselves) beings, but that does not give us any preferential ???right??? to be here. It DOES impose responsibility on us and the evidence is overwhelming that we have abdicated that responsibility. At the end of the day we may be thinking animals, but we ARE animals nonetheless.

Shame it didn't happen in China. it would have been payback time from the tigers for their near extinction caused by Chinese (unproven) medicinal beliefs.
Holetts zoo in the UK has this practice of having their keepers form bonds with their animal charges and the keepers wander into the enclosures and engage with their charges. They have had a few incidents including a keeper being killed. Tiger Island in Austrailia have their keepers mingling and frolicking with the tigers who appear more like overgrown pussycats and claim that the aggressive gene has been bred out of them over several generations.
In this instance rather than going on a killing rampage, very unusual for a tiger, it may have done so in self defence to the public reaction by being confronted by an uncaged tiger. It would be natural for it to seek to explore beyond its enclosure, but its unlikely it would have done so to pursue humans as some sort of quarry.

mike1964 or is it robmanrules: The only embarrassment is for people like you who tend to live by two sets of rules. The ones you espouse that you live by, and those you actually do live by. I mean, I would assume that you are a vegetarian, in light of your comments about feeling compassion for the animals which are killed. I always hear these anti-hunting folk bemoan the poor animals, but continue to eat meat as though it fell from the sky. Animals kill and eat one another each day, yes it is a hard world. If one is killed by a hunter for food, or killed to protect a human, I will shed no tears. There are too many tragedies in this world happening to people that I will save my tears for! You are certainly free to shed tears for the tiger, but it leaves no grieving family behind and probably felt no fear as it drew its last breath. So you feel remorse for a creature that is incapable of any feelings other than fight or flight, and to most of the people on this board, is better off dead than in a zoo. I think I feel sorry for you. With all the lonely, downtrodden and helpless people in our world and society; you and these others have chosen a dead tiger to grieve. As for having a gun going into a tiger cage, that is not cowardly, that is smart!

Comment: I can't help but wonder what went on before this attack and how did this beautiful cat escape this enormous holding pen. I do feel sorry for the victim, but let be known that the tiger is a victim also. If these young men were taunting and aggravating this animal then the attack is theor fault and not the cats. I can't believe that while this cat was sitting in front of the cafe, the police department wasn't able to get a tranquailizing gun to shoot the cat instead of killing it. It seems that is always the case with wild animals and the cops. Shoot to kill and then say "We had no choice." That is bull and everyeone knows it! They were in the zoo for goodness sake! You can't tell me there are not tranquailizer guns there! This cat did what any wild animal does - protects itself. Why did the cat have to die?

Last year the President of the Lowry Park Zoo shot and killed the tiger that was getting ready to pounce on one of his employees and he received reams of hate mail for pullilng the trigger. Looking back now, I wonder if the bleeding hearts who scorned him for doing so still put a tiger's life in front of a human life.

Respect??????every living thing should have and is entitled to this. To taunt an animal is being disrespectful to the animal and the people who are caring for such animals. Those of you that think the people who love and want to help any kind of animal are??? nuts??? are ones that are lacking respect. Why is it ???Nuts??? to want to help something that some human has harmed in some form? What would our earth be like if everyone would just have a simple thing like respect for all and everything in life? I thank my parents for teaching me this important thing Respect, thanks to all the parents that did the same for their children and to the one???s that are teaching it now. To those who don???t want to listen to their parents, or whose parents didn???t want to be bothered you should try it for awhile, you may find yourself a better person. I would like to show my respect to the family???s that lost their son and to the one that their son???s were harmed, also for the loss of such a beautiful creature that didn???t ask for any of this.

Respect??????every living thing should have and is entitled to this. To taunt an animal is being disrespectful to the animal and the people who are caring for such animals. Those of you that think the people who love and want to help any kind of animal are??? nuts??? are ones that are lacking respect. Why is it ???Nuts??? to want to help something that some human has harmed in some form? What would our earth be like if everyone would just have a simple thing like respect for all and everything in life? I thank my parents for teaching me this important thing Respect, thanks to all the parents that did the same for their children and to the one???s that are teaching it now. To those who don???t want to listen to their parents, or whose parents didn???t want to be bothered you should try it for awhile, you may find yourself a better person. I would like to show my respect to the family???s that lost their son and to the one that their son???s were harmed, also for the loss of such a beautiful creature that didn???t ask for any of this.