Why Tigers Attack

While I feel sorry that this young mans' choices cost him his life, I feel more sadness for the cat. She was a victim; brought here against her will and caged to serve as entertainment.

Re: planetman
???In my eyes, and most of civilized society, there is a hierarchy, and man is at the top! We can reason, create, understand the difference between right and wrong, and make those choices??? Actually, I think this points out the crux of the problem here. The tiger wasn???t making a choice, just instinctually going after a creature lower on the food chain (and, I suspect, one that was taunting it at that). However, those three boys had the ability to and made choices, right or wrong, and should have understood what they were doing. You can???t blame the tiger for doing what it was born to do, but there is probably plenty of blame on the parts of those three boys. I could be wrong, but I???d take a sizable bet at Vegas that the boys were stupid, did things they shouldn???t have, and paid the price for it.

Still, I suspect that their families will profit over their stupidity, and a tiger died for it. Funny world we live in, when Man wants to be at the top, but lacks the honesty and responsibility to be there.

First of all I agree that there are two sides to every story, and not only that but we do not know under what circumstances this tiger escaped. Second of all to anyone on here that does not feel sorrow for that young man's family you a cold hearted person!! I am shocked at some of the thoughtless comments on here. To anyone who is wanting to comment on where the parents were you should read some articles before you comment. They were in fact waiting at home for their son, so that they could eat Christmas dinner!!! Next your such an idiot if you think that you are going to out run a freakin tiger!!! The first thing the teach kids is NEVER RUN because that will make almost any animal want to chase you!!! I hope that you never have to experience the loss of a child because it is something that you will never totally recover from!!!! You just made yourself look like a jacka** because you don't even know what the facts are. The only intelligent comment you made is that they should have tranquilized the tiger instead of killing it.

Still think its impossible for the tiger to get out, read this from swfsanctuary.org/tigers.....
Tigers are extremely powerful. A single blow of their paw can kill a full-grown wolf or human. They have extremely strong jaws and sharp teeth that make them superb predators. They are also strong swimmers and can kill prey while swimming. Wild tigers can leap as high as 15 feet and as far as 30 feet. After the cougar, they are the highest-jumping mammals in the world. They have also been known to jump 6 foot high fenses while carrying domestic livestock.

Taunting will give a tiger a reason to jump a moat....

How can you not feel sorry for these kids .

Before you blame the parents maybe you should read a couple articles on this particular story. If you would have gotten your facts straight before making a jacka** out of yourself you would have discovered that they were at home waiting for their sons return from the zoo!!! I hope that you never have to experience the loss of a child because it is something that you never truley move on from! Your an ignorant jerk who should know what he/she is talking about before posting a comment. The first thing they tell you NOT to do is RUN!!! Your the idiot in this situation!!!!! The only smart thing you said was that they should have sedated the tiger.

I agree that the tiger was taunted by these boys. Of course, we'll probably never know the truth as I'm guessing that the 'boys' ( who are old enough to know better) will jump on the bandwagon for some type of lawsuit against the zoo and big bucks. A beautiful and becoming extinct animal was sacrificed for the idiocy of three dumb kids. Humans are idiots for the most part. We destroy our world with chemicals and material junk and then like to blame the everything else for the outcome. Sad but true. I don't feel sorry for these kids one bit. I'm sure their families will make out just fine.

I'm saddened to hear about the loss of a human's life and a tiger's life in this incident. There will be much grieving even once more facts are found, and hopefully it will never happen again.

I find it quite interesting that the two living witnesses to the event have been "uncooperative" with police and authorities. Had they been minding their business and respectful to the animals, I imagine they would be sharing their stories. As it is....

The last zoo I went to was the San Diego Zoo. While many interesting animals were viewed while I was there, the most interesting and disturbing animals were the people. Many were taunting and disturbing the animals, as if they were safe toys, solely made for their entertainment. People seem to have lost their ability to respect deadly animals, not to mention other animals and people.

Tiger probably Mauled him after he tagged the wall or something. Yelling and screaming. thought he was tougher than a wild animal. where were the parent in this ordeal, i hope they dont try to find payback for this accident. like moneytary payback. which is stupid. why didnt the guy run away? one less idiot on this planet.
IM sure he was a great kid and all, (-scoff- a dime a dozen ). but tiger dont grow on trees. they should have sedated the tiger, not kill it.

Mabrey: There are two sides to every story and, last I checked, this was not an anti-PETA message board.

topic" Peta Nuts", I remember when I called PETA desparately seeking help in offering to finance the rescue of Vick's ptibulls from the court destroying the animals - they were he most uncaring, rude, and obnoxious people I have ever been in contract with - bunch of hypocrites that really didn't care what happend to those poor abused dogs.

Why is it that none of the anti-tiger posters can come up with an intelligent comment that does not involve referring to someone else as a freak, or a nut, or someone who needs to get a life? The only intelligent comments on here are in support of the tiger. I think that says a lot.

Everyone is assuming the tiger took a direct path to the visitor area by leaping across a 20' wide moat and to the top of a 14' wall - a seeming impossibility. I saw a picture of the facility on the front page of the NY Post today - the wall around the area where the tigers were kept was an artificial "rock" 14 feet tall from the ground on which the tigers walked which also extended to the visitor area, AND appears to be wide enough on top for a tiger to walk on. Anyone maybe think the tiger climbed or leapt to the top of the wall and then merely walked out? Doesn't seem so impossible if you look at it that way - a determined, taunted, angry predator not figure that out? Please - they are natural born hunters, think they cannot figure out how to get to their prey??

For the most part, accidents in a zoo like this are caused by human error, mostly by patrons who think they are playing with "stuffed animals" instead of the real thing. In the zoos I have been to, there has always been some idiot who teases the animals into doing something and its the animal that gets the blame. By rights, its people like this who should be locked in a cage and the animal run free!

Planetman: You sound like a spoiled child having a tantrum. What is your basis for hating animals, if you have any?

I agree with "hatethetigers"! Most of you people, excuse me I mean animals, are a bunch of nuts! I only hope that someday you can share the joy of being the prey, as did these young men. Perhaps a neighbors Pitbull will put the lockjaw on you...............one can only hope! I do not agree that this shows how sick our society is though. This is not scientific by any means, and I think agree that most of the posters here are PETA nuts. A very fringe group that does not represent main-stream society in any way................thank God!

kimberly willis: No "PETA nut" would have let that tiger out, knowing that she had no chance of true escape. Anyone who loves animals (like PETA nuts) either release and transport animals to safety or let them go in a place where they have a fighting chance of survival. Before you criticize, you should know what you are talking about.

Hanna shouldn't jump to such conclusions. I remember when the Dallas incident happened and they said it was virtually impossible for the gorilla to make that leap, but concluded that it did because it had been taunted by teenagers:

March 18, 2004
A 340-pound gorilla named Jabari breaks out of its enclosure at the Wilds of Africa exhibit at the Dallas Zoo and goes on a 40-minute rampage through a forest, snatching up a toddler with his teeth and attacking three other people before being shot to death by officers.