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In the blogosphere, there's been much reporting (or, rather, reprinting of the AP's story) about the escaped Siberian tiger that killed one young man and mauled two others at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas before it was killed by police, yet bloggers have provided relatively little commentary on the incident.
Fortunately, a few women bloggers have weighed in with some unique perspectives. I'm sharing them here in the spirit of research and education on tigers in captivity.
A docent and zoo educator at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo weighed in based on her experiences:
In the wild, a Siberian (Amur) Tiger would only kill for two reasons. Either she’s hungry or she’s defending herself from some threat. Because the Amur Tiger is endangered [...] it makes sense for us to keep some in captivity so we can, hopefully, breed them where they are safe and sound, at reasonable levels. The day we have no more Amur tigers on this planet will be a very sad day indeed. If, in the course of keeping them in captivity, we have them where the public can see them and become educated and concerned about them in a way that helps preserve the species in the wild, that’s a good thing.
And yet. The business of keeping animals comes with huge responsibilities. A responsibility to know them, respect them, shelter them securely in the absolute best situations and to never leave them feeling hungry or threatened. Otherwise, they might kill somebody and then you have a very serious case of zookeeper error.
Carole Baskin, CEO of Big Cat Rescue, posted the transcript of a chat interview. Some highlights:
[Amazon Queen] I always assumed zoo personnel keep darts to use on animals out of control. It appears from the story that this cat was shot by law enforcement. Could this have been prevented?
[Carole Baskin] A lot of us grew up with a skewed concept of tranquilization from TV. It takes a dart 20 minutes, at least, to start taking effect and if the cat is excited, often doesn't effect them at all. That being said, it could have been avoided with better safety protocols. . .There are far too many incidents of people being killed and mauled by captive cats. The following is a partial listing (660) of incidents in the U.S. involving captive exotic cats since 1990. The U.S. incidents have resulted in the deaths of 20 humans, 15 adults and 4 children, the additional mauling of 174 more adults and children, 138 escapes, the killing of 81 big cats, and 113 confiscations. There have also been 150 big cat incidents outside the U.S. . .
A Siberian tiger is designed to patrol 400 square miles of habitat. No zoo cage, sanctuary cage or even wildlife park can come close to offering even one cat the room they need in order to be who they are. . .
There is no safe way to keep a tiger captive. . .
The cat is always waiting for that one opportunity at escape. The are beautiful, but more importantly, they are just incredibly intelligent and patient. They are bored out of their minds in captivity and have nothing to do all day but look for that one chance at freedom.
Baskin also directs us to PETA's news release and open letter to San Francisco Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo. In the letter, Lisa Wathne, PETA's captive exotic animal specialist, writes,
PETA is asking that the zoo give serious consideration to phasing out its tiger exhibit. The San Francisco Zoo has already established itself as a facility that takes animal welfare issues seriously, including the zoo's honorable decision in 2004 to close its elephant exhibit and send its elephants to a sanctuary.
There are some species--including tigers--that simply do not belong in captivity because of their extraordinarily complicated physical and psychological needs. Scientists at Oxford University have concluded that big cats and other wide-roaming predators become neurotic when they are confined. No "educational" program is worth sacrificing animals' well-being.
Given that the average tiger enclosure is about 18,000 times smaller than the animals' natural roaming range, it is simply impossible for these animals to express instinctual behaviors, such as staking out territory in dense forests, choosing mates, running, climbing trees, and hunting.
The LA Times has posted a graphic mapping the SF Zoo's tiger grotto.
If you're interested in learning more about zoos in the U.S., several U.S. zoos now keep blogs, including the Cleveland Metropolitan Zoo
