For those reading this locally, most already have heard the story as it got alot of media coverage. If you missed the story, here is a link to one of the news articles.
The incident and the news stories are what prompted me to finally re-boot this blog.
I'll talk about the incident first. Jumping over a barrier at an enclosure that is not open air, while completely not acceptable, is not the same as someone who would actually have access to the Animal with no barrier. In this case it could lead to minimal injury but there is no chance of a full on attack that would cause the Animal to lose its life. At least I hope not. That said, its curious that this has gotten so much press, yet people hanging over into open air exhibits, like I have been posting about at the San Francisco Zoo for eight years has not gotten a mention.
You can see in a video clip that the offender goes over the fence, according to him, allegedly to retrieve something. First of all, People, if you drop something into an exhibit, contact a Staff Member, Do Not take it upon yourself to retrieve any items.
Ok, so back to this situation. You can see in the video that the barrier this guy went over is positioned on a slope. The Animal, in this case a Tiger, is separated by chain link fencing. While the Tiger is contained, it is still accessible. One of three things wrong with this set-up. If someone, like this guy, voluntarily enters the exhibit (which includes any area past the barrier, regardless of whether the Animal occupies that space or not), they can have contact with the Animal, whether accidental or intentional. This guy could have lost his balance and slipped down to fence, instinctively grabbing the mesh and chomp there goes his fingers. If this guys intention was to have contact with the Tiger, most likely there would be more damage than a couple fingers gone. Let's use the hypothetical of someone sitting their kid on the barrier. I see this continuously. I have talked to Parents who have done this, they think they are immune to accidents. I'm sure the woman who dropped her kid into the Wild Dogs in Pittsburgh, didn't think she'd lose her Son to such an accident. It happens. So let's say someone sits their kid on this barrier, legs hanging over, and someone bumps into them and the kid falls in and rolls down the slope and ends up against the fencing. Screaming and flailing about they reach for the fencing and their whole little arm goes through the mesh. Chomp! None of these senarios are the fault of the Animal. They are all the faults of the Visitors, the Zoo, and the AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums). There should be a deterrent on those barriers, and in this case, there should be plexiglass at least six feet tall, so no one can accidentially grab through the mesh.
Now I want to talk about the media coverage. This story got alot of press for there not being any Human/Animal contact. Its curious as Barrier Breaching and Abuse is constant. The real thing media should be looking at is the act of breaching and posing the questions to the Visitors, Why do you put the Animals and yourselves by proxy at risk? And to the Zoo and the AZA, Why are barriers allowed to be constructed in such a way Visitors can access the exhibits? There needs to be more investigative reporting on this subject, not just reporting the situation and not asking questions. I will not that one reporter did ask flippantly, whether you can safeguard for stupid. There were chuckles from her and the Director, yet no real seriousness to the safeguarding issue.
I read three news articles. I was disappointed by the Oakland Zoo Director's words both in quotes and in video interviews. He maintained what the Zoos official statement contained, in that "The Oakland Zoo meets and exceeds safety requirements set by state, federal, and AZA accreditation standards." Personally, I don't care what the AZA standards are, No Big Cat should be behind a chain link fence that a Human can have access to, that is just crazy! I'm actually curious how high that chain link fence is, as I think the exhibit is open air. The Director also admitted that he is aware of the danger if someone went down the slope and put hands on fencing. Outrageous words, and that part of the official statement also included "We hope that all of our visitors act responsibly, and don't attempt to put themselves in potentially unsafe situations. What world are these people, including the Staff of my San Francisco Zoo living in that they think people are going to act responsibly? I'm at the SFZoo a small percentage of the time they are open in an average week, and look at all the disrespect and misbehavior I see during that time. Who knows what's going on when I'm not there. This guy at Oakland thinks he can just leave it up to the people?! Geez.
There are some people who get it, but that is not everyone, and it only takes one person to get an Animal killed. In the one article that I linked above, I was thankful to read the words of the gal who provided the video to media. Someone who gets it.
"I was very upset," Fayad said. "I'm an animal lover, especially with wildlife. As far as we know, he dropped something — it all happened so fast." ...Fayad said she's not sure what the man dropped, but was frustrated by his reckless actions. ... "He could have called the zoo staff," Fayad said. "Doing things like that — especially coming from an adult — is showing children it's okay to do it when it's not. People need to respect animals and follow the rules." ..."Because of people like him, the poor animals get blamed and killed," Fayad said.
Yet, I must say that in the video, while she gets it, I never once heard anyone tell this guy not to do this or to get back over. I never heard anyone say someone should alert Staff. All these things from others could have helped this or any like situation. People, you have to be a Voice.
In relation to the San Francisco Zoo Tiger Escape, I can guarantee if the woman who after the fact told media that she saw those guys taunting the Lions before getting to Tigers, had said something to them or to Staff, Tatiana the Tiger would not have lost her life.
Its apparent that the AZA and Zoos themselves are not going to take steps to keep the Animals safe, its up to all of us to Speak up and save lives.
