The story behind the tiger mauling that happened at the SF Zoo is getting more and more tragic.
This from exclusive CBS 5 content:
The tiger that attacked and killed a teenager on Christmas day had lost
50 pounds since arriving at the San Francisco Zoo as a young and
healthy animal two years earlier, raising concerns about whether she
was getting enough to eat.
A KCBS Radio investigation of zoo
records shows Tatiana arrived in San Francisco in December 2005
weighing 292 pounds. She was entering the prime of her life at two and
a half years old. When she was shot and killed by police in December
2007, she weighed just 242 pounds.
Zoo records obtained by CBS
show at least one reason for Tatiana's weight loss: she was fed less in
San Francisco than at her previous home in Denver. San Francisco Zoo
officials say they monitored Tatiana's weight and diet closely, and
that both were appropriate.
But some experts outside the zoo
say Tatiana's behavior, weight loss and diet raise serious questions
about whether she was getting enough to eat. And some say that may have
been a factor in her attack on a zookeeper in 2006 and the fatal attack
on Carlos Souza Jr. in December.
:(
I'm not a fan of zoos in the first place, but this new news makes me want to actively boycott the San Fransisco Zoo. In fact, I was a little surprised a place like SF even had a zoo. I mean, animal rights advocates have long argued the ill effects of zoos on the captive animals, but this sort of (possible) treatment takes things to a whole new level. Why would a perfectly healthy tiger lose 50 pounds? Surely she wasn't overweight in Denver.
Of course, this doesn't excuse the too short wall or the taunting by the victims, but it does reaffirm my view of many zoos as places unfit for the animals that contain them.
