Report: S.F. tiger may have been taunted
This is the headline Yahoo! used in their online article. The story, if you haven't heard, is about a tiger which escaped from her exhibit in the San Fransico zoo and killed a 17 year man, and severely injured 2 other young men. The tiger was a 3 year old female, named Tatiana, and weighed in at 300 lbs. Now, the first instinct is probably to think "Oh, the poor guys didn't have a chance." Then the second may be to turn fault to the zoo for not having some better safety situation, even if Tatiana was taunted. My thoughts, after visiting the National Tiger Sanctuary in Bloomsfield, MO (just a few miles from my home) are quite different. It doesn't seem unreasonable to me to believe that Tatiana (and maybe the rest of the animals, as well) was taunted in some way from the beginning of her captivity. I saw a documentary from Discovery Channel about taking tigers to Africa and 2 men who were supposed to be authorities on tigers tried to "teach" their tigers how to hunt, so that they might survive in the wild in Africa--a place that tigers do not live.
"Teach" tigers how to hunt?
Have you ever heard of teaching a pet cat how to hunt for mice?
The documentary was interesting to watch, but overall it was rubbish.
Tigers are not meant to live in captivity, nor are any other wild animals. If they were, we would not need a zoo in order to see them. Do we go to the zoo to see German Shepherds?
Now, I am not against zoos altogether, but its obvious that in general people do not know how to act around animals. I can remember my dad having an Irish Setter when I was a teenager, her name was Sheelin, an Irish name. There was a boy who lived behind us, who had a habit of taunting her. One day, she finally had enough and broke the chain that had held her with no problems when other dogs or cats came around, and chased the boy into his house. She was otherwise quite well behaved, to my memory. In fact, I can also remember my dad being able to walk her around the neighborhood with her leash casually placed in his pocket.
So, how much would it take to "taunt" a tiger into such behavior?
The individual human life is certainly more valuable than the individual tiger, but the more we upset the balance of life that God Almighty created in this world, the more dangerous the world itself becomes to mankind.
If that sounds like I am saying that man is the enemy, congratulations for paying attention.
Man was given dominion over the world on just the sixth day of Creation (Gen 1:26). But that didn't mean then nor does it mean now that we can do whatever we please to any of them, any more than it means we parents can treat our children any way we please.
With power comes respnsibility.
With great power comes great responsibility.
Is this not one of our own modern-day proverbs?
I fear much of America has bought a lie that power is a right.
I am sorry for the death of Carlos Sousa, Jr., it should not have happened.
But, I will probably remember Tatiana the tiger longer.
The Lord is good!
"Teach" tigers how to hunt?
Have you ever heard of teaching a pet cat how to hunt for mice?
The documentary was interesting to watch, but overall it was rubbish.
Tigers are not meant to live in captivity, nor are any other wild animals. If they were, we would not need a zoo in order to see them. Do we go to the zoo to see German Shepherds?
Now, I am not against zoos altogether, but its obvious that in general people do not know how to act around animals. I can remember my dad having an Irish Setter when I was a teenager, her name was Sheelin, an Irish name. There was a boy who lived behind us, who had a habit of taunting her. One day, she finally had enough and broke the chain that had held her with no problems when other dogs or cats came around, and chased the boy into his house. She was otherwise quite well behaved, to my memory. In fact, I can also remember my dad being able to walk her around the neighborhood with her leash casually placed in his pocket.
So, how much would it take to "taunt" a tiger into such behavior?
The individual human life is certainly more valuable than the individual tiger, but the more we upset the balance of life that God Almighty created in this world, the more dangerous the world itself becomes to mankind.
If that sounds like I am saying that man is the enemy, congratulations for paying attention.
Man was given dominion over the world on just the sixth day of Creation (Gen 1:26). But that didn't mean then nor does it mean now that we can do whatever we please to any of them, any more than it means we parents can treat our children any way we please.
With power comes respnsibility.
With great power comes great responsibility.
Is this not one of our own modern-day proverbs?
I fear much of America has bought a lie that power is a right.
I am sorry for the death of Carlos Sousa, Jr., it should not have happened.
But, I will probably remember Tatiana the tiger longer.
The Lord is good!
posted by flick @ 11:30 AM
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