In December, how many zoo visitors were mauled at zoos? And how many big cats were shot?

[struggle4progress]

Tigers maul tourist to death as he tries to take photo through zoo cage bars
December 19, 2007 1:31 PM
... The tourist is said to have clambered over a safety barrier in order to get a really good close-up picture of the Bengal tigers at the zoo in Guwahati in northeast India ... <don't click the link: graphic> http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=12104&pst=1003632&archival=&posts=4

Wild cat attacks girl at Zoo in Malaysia
2007-12-24 11:03:56
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- A 5-year-old girl required 10 stitches on her lips after she was attacked by a wild cat at Zoo Negara (National Zoo) here in Malaysia on Saturday, local media reported on Monday ... The parents of the girl claimed it was a puma while the zoo authorities said it was a leopard. Her mother blamed the zoo authorities for the incident. A puma clawed Haw as she stood with her back to the cage, she said ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/24/content_7303035.htm

Tiger Found Dead Near I-35
Dec. 27, 2007
A body of a tiger found shot to death near Interstate 35 in Dallas is being stored at the Dallas Zoo as state and federal officials investigate its origin.
http://video.nbc5i.com/player/?id=199480

[Westegg]

1. Too many of both? Not sure I get the question!

Wild animals will do what wild animals will do, and that's a fact. People can be remarkably stupid, and that's a fact. The 5-year-old in Malaysia is not stupid, she's 5, and I've never been to Malaysia so I don't know how they run the zoos there. The tiger found dead in Dallas presumably didn't know about the number of licensed gun-carriers in Texas, as it presumably didn't know it was IN Texas in the first place.

The majority of zoos in the world are awful places for animals. Some zoos do care, and have the money to do what's right. Most don't. I never blame a tiger for being a tiger. I do blame humans for not using their God-given abilities to make things better than they are.

[KamaAina]

2. Tigers are the new sharks

next year, it'll be tiger sharks... :-)

[KitchenWitch]

3. Exactly. Nothing like taking the focus away from the REAL terrorists.

[DS1]

4. Want a closer picture? Get a longer lens.

Mobile phone
:eyes:

[skygazer]

5. Maybe we shouldn't be keeping big cats in zoos?

I realize that's a radical theory and "we need to keep a breeding population" and "teach the public about them so they'll want to save them" but I disagree that zoos are the best way. They certainly aren't the best way to keep a breeding population and I would argue that the majority of people who see them in zoos still don't give a rat's ass about conservation in any meaningful way. Zoos are built with the entertainment of humans in mind rather than the best interests of the animals.