kiss
Tatiana and Tony expressing affection.
UPDATE, 10 Aug 2008: Thanks to National Geographic TV's Explorer for using this image in their "ZOO TIGER ESCAPE" episode. It aired tonight, 8/10/2008, and I thought they did a great job of recreating the story. It airs again on 8/17/2008. Here's the overview:
"Until December 25th 2007, no animal had ever escaped and killed a visitor at an accredited U.S. zoo. The first animal to achieve this dubious distinction was a tiger. A mild Christmas day in San Francisco has turned into a bloody tragedy the likes of which have never been seen before. Two young men were mauled, one 17-year-old boy and one 4-year-old Siberian tigress lay dead. Experts explore what might have happened in hopes of improving how dangerous animals are kept in captivity."
channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/explorer/3816/Overview
UPDATE: Tatiana, pictured here, is the Siberian tiger making the recent news headlines. The latest (27 Dec 2007) seems to indicate that the wall was too short:
Tiger grotto wall shorter than thought, may have contributed to escape and fatal attack
More...
S.F. Zoo's Tatiana acted her part as alpha predator, experts say
"Once the animal is out of its primary enclosure, it's pretty much shoot to kill," Tilson said. "You don't have a discussion - you kill it. A tranquilizer gun would take too long and you might miss."
The other Siberian pictured here is Tony:
"Tatiana was born in the Denver Zoo on June 27, 2003, and donated to San Francisco in December 2005 to mate with a male named Tony."
Comments and faves
Susan L. Pettitt Photography (Away), The Brit_2, aiglensis, justmegan82, and 39 other people added this photo to their favorites.
Susan L. Pettitt Photography (Away) (74 months ago | reply)
Beautiful shot of Tony and Tatiana together :)
Susan L. Pettitt Photography (Away) (74 months ago | reply)
Congratulations! Your picture has been invited to
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chadh (74 months ago | reply)
Thanks for the nice comment, and for sharing their names!
pixelmasseuse (74 months ago | reply)
very cute!
seen in Zoology
The Brit_2 (74 months ago | reply)
Beautiful moment!
Great shot! Seen in
Zoology **Invite Only**
pasma (74 months ago | reply)
I really like your animal photo!
You are invited to post this photo to Spectacular Animals, invite only
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Please add the tag SpecAnimal to your photo
Please include a link to the photo when applying for group membership.
upclosecis (74 months ago | reply)
Very loving touch. Well done. C
LJGrove [deleted] (74 months ago | reply)
How wonderful!
chadh (74 months ago | reply)
Thanks to you all for the favs, comments, views, and for making this my 1st photo to make Explore:
edbierman [deleted] (74 months ago | reply)
what a great touching moment with these two animals
nitesh3d (74 months ago | reply)
gr8 shot
kpangel68 (66 months ago | reply)
beautiful capture
Hassan Abd ullah (66 months ago | reply)
RIP Tatiana and Carlos Sousa. Beautiful photo, needless to say the zoo needs to manage their big cats way better.
anthonybrown (66 months ago | reply)
Thank you for capturing such an amazing photo of Tatiana!
Please add this photo to the Tatiana the Tiger group.
pyankcat (65 months ago | reply)
RIP beautiful Tatiana.
jenalpeche1 (65 months ago | reply)
Beautiful shot. Thank you.
Bissingerbooks (65 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Animal Affection, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
Dreamzville (65 months ago | reply)
One of my favorites of Tatiana and Tony...they were so close! Very beautiful and heart-touching. :)
Hatem2005 [deleted] (64 months ago | reply)
whit my love
yeah! Big Apple (59 months ago | reply)
love it
Greenpeace International (58 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Forest love, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
trumpetmom30312 (57 months ago | reply)
Had to comment..This story makes me very sad every time I think about it. The zoo manages the animals wonderfully. The VISITORS need to be more aware of their own actions and not taunt animals. The tiger acted like any tiger would react. Some humans are just STUPID!!!!!!!!!!
Aldhis (56 months ago | reply)
Agree with the last comment from trumpetmom30312. We can't force any animal to act or even think like human.
More than that, I really love this picture and would like to add it in my blog - Stories of Picture
chadh (56 months ago | reply)
I'm starting to wonder how much of animal containment measures at zoos are really more "security theater." In other words, measures that are employed primarily to make spectators feel safer.
I was recently at the National Zoo:
...and I may have missed something, but it seemed to me that these animals could probably escape if they had the time, intelligence and motivation to figure out a specific jumping path. In any case, no huge glass barriers were standing in the way of taking good pictures.
NateFischPix (56 months ago | reply)
Please add this great photo to Nature’s Finest
Tag your photo with "NaturesFinest"
mostextremeprincess (7 months ago | reply)
Awwwwwwwww
Sweat ain't it?