San Francisco is My Home

26
Dec

Tiger attack

Author: kris, Category: News

A San Francisco Zoo tiger escaped its enclosure last night and attacked three people, killing one. You can read the full story here.

It’s a tragedy for these families, no question, but other news orgs are covering that. What I’m wondering is how this will affect the Zoo. Will people avoid it like the plague? Or will there be a constant crowd in front of the tiger pens? And I wonder about the city, too: will there be a public outcry because police shot and killed the tiger as it was attacking people? Will people point out that when this tiger attacked a zookeeper last December, another zookeeper convinced it to stop by beating it on the head with a squeegee, so bullets might not have been necessary this time? (For me, this is a no-brainer: you see a tiger attacking someone, you shoot the tiger. But I’m guessing not everyone is going to see it that way.)

Right now I’m seeing a lot of people clamoring for the city to close the Zoo. It’s closed today, but will probably re-open tomorrow. I’m tempted to go down there and see if it’s packed to the gills or emptied out. Stay tuned for details.