Afternoon at the Zoo
SF Zoo flack moving forward with mission. Doesn’t say what that is, though. I’m guessing it has to do with revenues. History suggests Thursday re-opening could be a hit at tiger-mauling death scene. I don’t know about you, but I won’t be taking the kids to any zoos any time soon. Not til they sort out 50 years worth of incompetence. Hate to see the tykes get eaten by a tiger, tossed around by a gorilla. I’ll wait for the movie. I’m sure some striking screenwriter is roughing out the plot already. SF Chron:
… escaping from an enclosure at the zoo is not beyond the ability of a Siberian tiger, according to a retired longtime keeper and other zoo veterans interviewed by The Chronicle.
And many people who worked at the zoo knew it, the keeper said.
The keeper, who spent decades at the zoo and asked not to be publicly identified, said he got the word about Siberian tigers – and the apparently inadequate 12 1/2-foot-high moat wall that protects the public from them – in a most dramatic fashion, not long after he began working at the zoo.
“I was putting a sign up in front of the tiger exhibit, with my butt hanging over the edge,” said the former keeper. “The cat was pacing back and forth at the bottom of the grotto.”
So apparently they’ve known about it for a while. But wait, what’s this around the nxt corner? So exciting at the zoo. Chron again:
A koala is kidnapped. Sheep are molested by a human intruder. An elephant does a headstand on a technician, breaking her pelvis. A tiger ravages its keeper’s arm. A year later, on Christmas Day, the same feline escapes, kills and gets killed.
This is what life can be like at the San Francisco Zoo, a 78-year-old institution saddled with a history of mismanagement and scores of injuries to animals, employees and visitors alike – yet still beloved by generations of Bay Area residents.
It’s almost as if the place is cursed.
Yeah, by generations of incompetent management and grumbling employees apparently more interested in job security than public safety. And koala-kidnapping sheep rapists. No unkind SF fetish jokes, please.
The very public tragedy overshadows decades of problems – and the troubles of the current zoo administration, which began in February 2004 when Manuel Mollinedo became director of the 100-acre facility.
Almost four years later, attendance has increased, celebrations built around ethnic holidays have drawn crowds, new arrivals such as KuneKune pigs have proved popular, and two splashy exhibits – Hearst Grizzly Gulch and the long-planned African Savanna – have opened. However, problems have multiplied and employee morale has plummeted.
Hold up there, bwana. Tiger Snack Shack has grizzlies? Someone call Hollywood. I sense a “Night at the Museum” sequel coming on. Throw in a gorilla escape* and a koala-kidnapping. I’d leave out the sheep-molesting intruder thing. This is a family movie. You’ll have all kinds of butt-over-the-tiger-enclosure, meat-dangling fun until it all goes badly wrong, but after the disposable visitors have been mauled, the evil zoo manager has been eaten, and the insurance has been paid out, the quirky, hero zookeeper gets the girl.
* Last week, in the wake of the SF Zoo mauling, Zoo New England declined to comment, refering reporters to the zoo accreditation association. You know, the one that signed off on SF’s tiger enclosure.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 7:58 am Comments (4) on Tuesday, January 1, 2008
4 Responses to “Afternoon at the Zoo”
Leave a Reply
Trackback URLYou must be logged in to post a comment.
January 1st, 2008 at 10:05 am
I am laughing my ass off at your movie (or are those tears?). The girl the quirky, hero zookeeper gets is the vet, right? She helps him understand that animals need more respect!
Close the place down.
This story will certainly end up in the business-school case books under PR Disasters: How Not to Handle Them.
January 1st, 2008 at 11:42 am
Most zoos in the US are antiquated holdovers from the nineteenth century and ought to be phased out in favor of natural habitat safari-type farms. In some cases, good work is done in the field of conservation and preservation of endangered species, but the old cage-type zoos need to go.
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
Now it looks like the two guys who didn’t become Tiger Chow were packing slingshots…
Teasing the Siberian Tiger is probably NOT a good idea, monkey-boys…
January 2nd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Still surprised they didn’t send in the hero Chihuahua to handle the escaped Tiger.
Zoos still serve a good purpose by helping to “save” some species headed towards the exit ramp. They bring a multitude creatures to people that would never have the opportunity see the critters in their natural environment.