More about Tatiana

[mdlbear]

There are more news articles today; most are highly predictable bits of sensationalism, but a few are worth reading. ABC News has a bit on the victims' condition (critical but stable). And the San Francisco Chronicle comes through with a bit from the OSHA report on Tatiana's attack on a keeper last year:

On Dec. 22, 2006, the 350-pound Tatiana chewed the flesh off Lori Komejan's arm during a public feeding demonstration. A state investigation later ruled that the zoo was at fault for the attack because of the way the cages were configured.

A June report from the state Division of Occupation Safety and Health blamed the San Francisco Zoo for the 2006 attack, stating that the tiger cages were configured in a way that made it possible for Tatiana to bite the zookeeper's arm. The state found that Komejan was attacked after she reached through a drain trough to retrieve an item near the tiger's side of the cage. The tiger reached under the cage bars and grabbed her right arm, but the zookeeper tried to push the tiger away using her other arm, the report found.

Both of her arms were under the cage at that point and her face was pressed against the cage bars, according to the report. Another employee grabbed a long-handled squeegee and hit the tiger in the head until it released the injured zookeeper.

So let me get this straight: it's feeding time, and she puts both arms into the cage with the hungry tiger. And people are blaming the cage design and the tiger?

When it's all over, I think we'll find that Tatiana's tragedy is less about vicious, wild felines than it is about stupid primates.