Over the years, I’ve read all sorts of bizarre stories of people jumping into zoo pens/cages/whatever to be with the animals. Not long ago, I think I read of someone dropping into a pen with polar bears, or perhaps it was just black bears (JUST black bears??), or something.
In every case I’ve heard of, I don’t recall a happy ending for the people nutty enough to do such things. Almost always the person is injured, sometimes maimed.
Yesterday’s tiger incident in San Francisco was a bit different. The Siberian tiger somehow got out of it’s habitat, killed one teenager, and injured two others. Police are investigating how the tiger got out of the enclosed, protected habitat, into an area where it could attack anyone. That’s scary to me, the idea that someone would for any reason release a 350 tiger into a public area. But that’s another story.
My biggest concern is this: People who go regularly to zoos tend to forget that these are WILD animals, not pets. They may be conditioned to depending on people to get their food, but they also have innate, inbred instincts to thrive, survive, and behave as wild animals.
I won’t get into all the varied and valid arguments against the whole concept of zoos. I would just say this — pay attention and be sensible when you’re around wild animals. Don’t let yourself or those you love become victims of bizarre zoo horrors in any case.
Ah, well, what do I know? I’m just a guy who reads the papers.
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