December 27, 2007
-
The Zoo
I was watching FoxNews earlier tonight and a lady from PETA was being interviewed about the tiger attack.
A tiger at a zoo escaped from his cage and killed one person and injured two others. Here is the link: Link
The lady from PETA said that the tiger should have never been in the zoo because it wasn’t his natural habitat.
Should the tiger have been in the zoo?
Comments (80)
Yeah, I don’t think so. Put them in the wild. However once i was in a park so small that they nicknamed it the zoo. Should they have made it biffer. You know Cat Stevens said where will the children play.
zoos keep people amused
I really can’t believe I’m siding with PETA, but no, I don’t think wild animals – especially predators- should be in the zoo. I actually feel sorry for Tatiana.
:/ It’s a lose-lose situation.
yea animals belong in cages after all
God didn’t intend for animals to be imprisoned. He intended for them to roam free.
We humans have too much to do with pleasure of the eyes. We want to see something as amazing as a tiger, so we’ll just lock it up and look at it any time we’d like.
I think it’s pathetic, personally.
No. It shouldn’t be in the zoo. It should live in the woods just behind the PETA woman’s house.
I am not a zoo fan,but I think that they do a lot of research and preservation and work for the good of animals.
Many species would have been extinct a long time ago except for the conservation work of zoos and hunters.
I figure the tiger should have considered himself lucky to be in the zoo. Better a zoo then speared and barbequed for dinner right?
Your house is a damn zoo!
No, of course not. A zoo clearly should have zero animals in it. Gosh. What are they thinking?
Zoos educate the masses.
no, but what is PETA going to do? ban zoos?
PETA is stupid
Animals taht were born in zoos yeah but
not so with wild ones
taking animals who learned to fend for themselves and lived a normal life doubtly so
that lady is a dumbass.
if we let all the animals out of the zoos can we lock up the peta freaks in their place?
No, wild animals should not be in cages. There are few excuses to do so. And using them for the amusement of sticky fingered children is not one of them.
Zoos were started by conservationists, and they are not the same as circus sideshows. Zoologists and conservationists take the care and health and welfare of those animals very seriously, and in some cases, prevent them from extinction in the wild.
i heard that those dudes were taunting the cat. if that’s truely the case, they desrved to be mauled.
No.
RYC: You’re cool enough. Even the fans have never heard of her >.<
They shouldn’t be in cages and zoo’s I’ve been to these aren’t in cages. They are kept in a habitat designed for the way they live. Sure it seems cruel, but they are animals, as long as they aren’t mistreated, I think it’s ok. They need to keep them under strict surveylance. It also helps us learn how in studying these animals, how to help them.There are positives and negatives to everything in life, there’s no getting around it. There IS no perfect way for anything on this earth every since sin took over humanity. Only Christ can fix that!
RYC: Yeah Dan, that’s tough for me to go a whole 24 hours with NO xanga ROFL
At least thats what my family tells me. 
I favor zoos to extinction. It’s a good choice for many animals, with some special circumstances these days.
-David
Don’t we have people hunting tigers? Or at least something like it. I’d rather keep them in zoos than out there.
I swear, something provoke that poor tiger.
PETA needs their own cage.
ryc. Καλα Χριστουγεννα! - Καλα means good and Χριστουγεννα- is Christmas, and I do hope you had a good one!
happy boxer day!
I don’t think that animals belong in cages but to me at the zoo is better than in a crummy circus where there are little to no standards for maintenance or care.
For most people the zoo is the only place where they’ll be able to see tigers and other exotic animals that don’t talk, walk upright, wear clothes or sell meaningless consumer goods
i think peta needs to fuckign read Life of Pi
The tiger and I share the same first name. Tatiana.
Victims were 3 men in their 20s…. the similarities are creepy.
Baahahahaha!
As oppose to what? A shopping mall? I’m voting for the zoo.
No.
But I think before people go getting their panties in a bunch about animals being kept in zoos they should think about some of the animals that would be extinct if it weren’t for the zoos keeping them healthy & what-not.
nah. I mean, I understand the whole concept of getting together animals and letting people see all those animals in one place within their city. But the more you think about it, it is kind of wrong.
it should have been put in the wild after it took off it’s trainer’s arm like a year or two ago…dumb asses…
PETA people shouldn’t be in Fox News studios because it isn’t their natural habitat either – but that didn’t stop her.
I’ve been to that zoo. The habitat for the tigers…and pretty much all of the other habitats, too…are pretty small. But the tigers are in a deep pit sort of thing that would impossible to “jump out” of, like some zoo keeper was apparently saying.
FoxNews
Then it could not have happened
No tiger should be in a cage.
Of course not.
That’s a stupid question.
I see a lot of people saying they should not be in zoos. However, if people did not see them in zoos, they would likely never see them in their lives. Are there tigers roaming free in the U.S.? No. And tigers are endangered from being hunted. No one would care about their conservation status if they had never seen the animal before. Seeing an animal at the zoo does a lot more for a person’s feelings toward status than a picture does.
Also, zoos are great for conservation programs with endangered animals. Pandas and tigers may go extinct one day in the wild, but the programs at the zoo are working to make sure they will not be gone for good.
I am well aware that it is our fault these animals are endangered in the first place, but there’s not much we can do now. There will always be hunters and people destroying their habitat. The only things people can do now are donate money and conservation programs, which zoos have. So if you truly love animals, you will appreciate the work zoos do.
zoo can be educational as well.
“I see a lot of people saying they should not be in zoos. However, if people did not see them in zoos, they would likely never see them in their lives. Are there tigers roaming free in the U.S.? No. And tigers are endangered from being hunted. No one would care about their conservation status if they had never seen the animal before. Seeing an animal at the zoo does a lot more for a person’s feelings toward status than a picture does.
Also, zoos are great for conservation programs with endangered animals. Pandas and tigers may go extinct one day in the wild, but the programs at the zoo are working to make sure they will not be gone for good.
I am well aware that it is our fault these animals are endangered in the first place, but there’s not much we can do now. There will always be hunters and people destroying their habitat. The only things people can do now are donate money and conservation programs, which zoos have. So if you truly love animals, you will appreciate the work zoos do.” – 12/27/2007 2:55 AM plaid sporks
Ditto.
Unless you’re going to go out yourself and make sure the tigers are safe in the wild from poachers or the destruction of their habitat, quit bitching about them being kept in a rather comfortable encloser. They aren’t litteraly kept in a cage.
I have to agree with PETA. Unless a zoo is really designed to be like the animals habitat, it seems a shame to keep those big animals in little cages.
Maybe the tiger was lonely and became distraught. Who knows? I think it’d be amusing to declaw a cat and to surround its fangs with gummy rubber. It’d be nice to play with, but I’d still probably get destroyed by it.
Zoos of today are valuable for conservation of threatened species, as well as places for people to see animals and grow to love them. Wild animals are dangerous, but so are some peoples’ pet dogs.
To say that because the tiger killed at the zoo, we should get rid of the zoo, one could just as well argue that if a tiger kills in the wild, get rid of the wild. We need the zoo, to know we need the wild.
PETA = People eating tasty animals. BillBryant said it well. They should have moved it behind that PETA woman’s house and let her care for the dumb thing!
Don’t make a different. PETA is just a joke.
My sister and I were just wondering earlier today what PETA would have to say about this…
No, obviously zoos are not the ideal environment for wild animals. But sometimes, as when the animals’ natural territory (and population sizes) continues to shrink, zoos can be the lesser of 2 evils for the purpose of at least maintaining that species alive. Also, zoos generate interest in these animals, which helps provide more funding for helping animals in the wild.
It’s the lesser of 2 evils. Would you rather have tigers in zoos, or no tigers at all? Sadly, that’s becoming the reality we have to choose from. This seems to be especially true for cheetahs, since their natural habitats are shrinking and they’re so incredibly picky about their mates that it’s getting harder and harder for them to be free and have any sort of decent population. And they require territories that are so incredibly vast, that it’s hard to keep those big areas intact as people populations grow.
It is Mia. She has grown a ton in the last year.
I like jonekoa’s answer!
That tiger was born at the Denver zoo. It was never in the wild and probably wouldn’t survive if it had been released into the wild.
should people be in zoos?
Yes, we should get rid of zoos, and let all of our pets loose too. I mean seriously, house cats and dogs were once wild animals too. Do you like that Parrot of yours? Oh well, send it back to Africa or the Amazon…
NO no waaaaait. t(-.-)t PETA.
Yup, there I am. The card carrying “I hate PETA, but still love animals” person!
Dogs and house cats aren’t in their natural habitat. Technically, neither is man because weren’t we originally cave and tree dwellers?
Perhaps the tiger didn’t have enough space in his area and was confined. Given the fact that the tiger was able to jump a 15 foot moat that butted up to a 20 foot high wall (which using
Pythagorean theorem
means the tiger jumped 25 feet), I think they probably underestimated the area needed for a tiger not to feel confined.
it explains the situation but does not excuse the death of the person
the lady from peta should be in the zoo, perhaps with the tigers.
I hate PETA, I really do. Sorry people, but PETA does nothing but hurt their own cause through flippant, ignorant statements about what people should and shouldn’t be doing for animals.
I’m convinced PETA is working on plans to kill off all the people in the world including themselves.
I have a little thing agasint zoos too. They really shouldn’t be locked up in a cage.
I know why the caged bird sings. QQ
I’m not sure it’s anyone’s fault. Zoo tigers and tigers in the wild both will kill people in the right (or wrong) situation.
“
I see a lot of people saying they should not be in zoos. However, if people did not see them in zoos, they would likely never see them in their lives. Are there tigers roaming free in the U.S.? No. And tigers are endangered from being hunted. No one would care about their conservation status if they had never seen the animal before. Seeing an animal at the zoo does a lot more for a person’s feelings toward status than a picture does.
Also, zoos are great for conservation programs with endangered animals. Pandas and tigers may go extinct one day in the wild, but the programs at the zoo are working to make sure they will not be gone for good.
I am well aware that it is our fault these animals are endangered in the first place, but there’s not much we can do now. There will always be hunters and people destroying their habitat. The only things people can do now are donate money and conservation programs, which zoos have. So if you truly love animals, you will appreciate the work zoos do.”
I agree completely.
Good question. I was watching an ad on TV for the SPCA which reminded me very much of those Save the Children ads one sees–the big, eyes and injuries and such. “There is an injured animal who needs your help,” the ad said. “In some countries, they eat dogs and cats,” some sarcastic teacherperson commented.
PETA is so off base on this. I think zoos encourage conservation. I know my kids wonder why we kill so many of the wonderful animals they see in zoos.
The way tigers, gorillas, etc. are hunted today in their natural habitat, by man, it was probably better off in a zoo. But the comment that he should live in the woods behind the PETA lady cracked me up!
Does she want to put up the tiger at her house? Of course the tiger belongs in the zoo since most of them have probably grown up in the zoo so they wouldn’t be able to take care of themselves if they were just turned loose.
Actually, no. Tigers belong in the wild, not in a zoo.
I agree with BillBryant. Thanks to zoos and hunting/preservation we do get to enjoy these beautiful animals. Besides - in reading about this tiger’s cage it sounds as if it was large, imitating a natural habitat. And to value the life of a tiger of a human’s life? That is out of the question.
plaid_sporks: That’s awfully selfish. Yes let’s trap the tiger just because WE want to see them.
>>
I believe exposure to exotic animals in well maintain habitats is a good thing. That particular tiger, after the attack last year though, should have been placed in a secure breeding program(away from most people) because any animal, once they have tasted human blood, becomes a danger to humans at that point, and starts seeing them as prey. If she wasn’t so indangered, I would have had her killed after the first attack, but since she was rare, she should have been removed from exibition.
Life outside of a zoo is rough – that tiger had it easy.
Zoo animals = kids/teenagers.
Free animals = adults
Translation – zoo animals are too stupid to know they have a good thing going and free animals have to work to survive. And if a species can’t survive when it’s being cared for should we really be worried about its survival?
san fransisco zoo is actually a very humane zoo… no it is not the natural habitat, but it not being captive wouldn’t have prevented it from murdering if it was blood thirsty… it would have just attacked poor villagers in india or where-ever, instead of californians.
I hate zoos…..too bad we can’t ask the tiger how it feels! I bet the kid provoked the attack. If so, his dad will probably have to settle for a mere 25 to 50 million. pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffft
I found the news article a bit amusing…”the officers asked the tiger to stop”.
So what about Pandas? Do you let them hang out in the wild, and not catch them to breed, and them run the risk of having another animal written onto the extinction list?
I think they shouldn’t be CAGED, but if they’re able to run around in their “habitat,” watched closely, fed, and handled with care and respect, then it’s okay. Animal attacks happen whether or not the animal is in a zoo, PETA can suck it.
if we care about extinction, yes we need to cage some animals. We have a hard time being responsible stewards, but some specialize and are helping in certain areas….such as animal extinction and Zoo science – in the USA our Zoos are awesome regarding animal welfare and behavior. And they are constantly improving. Thanks to God! In this case, the wall was too low. They KNEW that. Probably wanted to save some money. But the zoo needs to be taken into account for that. Also , most attacks relate to somewhat looney people. I do not know in this case…but yes, we need zoos. We also NEED to see wild animals and learn to understand. We are part of each other. One large ecosystem. And our effect on the rest is enormous.
If a tiger ate a member of PETA, would it feel guilty and become a vegetarian?
This cat was behaving as nature intended. Why do humans feel the inherit right to claim ownership over EVERYTHING?
I don’t understand how we (as a collective) came to this place of claimed lordship.
no, I don’t think wild animals should be in the zoo.
“Life is a zoo in the jungle” – Peter De Vries
I think the thrill for many is being able to stand so close to a large predator all the while standing behind bars or a wall of thick clear plexiglass…must be a visceral thing. But personally, I don’t think animals like tigers should be in zoos. Perhaps this is a relfection of ourselves; isn’t humanity a zoo in itself? Since we aren’t truly free, aren’t we all behind ‘bars’?
You want to see tigers and lions up close, go on safari…
No.
If i were in the zoo the first chance i got to escape i would run for the hills! I would hate to be in a cage 24/7! I mean who wants to be in a cage the whole time they were alive?