Florida zoo shoots tiger. Cleaner enters unauthorized area to pet/feed tiger. gets injured

[Demovictory9]

An eight-year-old Malayan tiger in a Naples, Florida zoo was shot to death after grabbing the arm of a cleaner and dragging it into the tiger's enclosure Wednesday evening, the zoo says.

The man, who is in his twenties, was airlifted to a hospital and was in serious condition, reports CBS Fort Meyers, Florida affiliate WINK-TV.

The Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens says it was closed for the day when the man, who works for a third-party cleaning service, "entered an unauthorized area near a tiger that was inside its enclosure. The cleaning company is responsible for cleaning restrooms and the gift shop, not the animal enclosures."

According to the zoo, the man was either petting or feeding the tiger, named Eko, "both of which are unauthorized and dangerous activities."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tiger-shot-dead-after-grabbing-man-s-arm-dragging-it-zoo-says/ar-AASgMQY

[Walleye]

1. What in the hell is wrong with people?!

[Deuxcents]

2. This pisses me off..

The tiger had to die for an idiot.

[2naSalit]

6. This one of the major fuckups of humans...

First, by putting these creatures in cages but also for killing the tiger after a human clearly put themselves in danger. It should be a lesson learned rather than announcing the death of a beautiful being.

This is also what happens when fucking idiot tourists decide to feed/pet the bears around here, the bear ALWAYS end up paying the price of human ignorance, the willful kind. I think if an animal kills a human, it was probably the human who is at fault yet the animal gets killed to make the humans feel better/superior.

At times like this, I really have little, if any, genuine positive regard for my species.

[Deuxcents]

8. Ty

You said it better than I ever could.

[Wounded Bear]

9. It's not really about "better/superior" feelings...

Once an animal kills/harms a human, it's likely to happen again. Thus, in the tiger's case, having attacked the idiot, it is more likely to attack its handlers and caretakers.

Sad, but generally true. And it's the same for animals in the wild.

[RandPaulsNeighbor]

11. No

If an idiot enters the wrong place the Tiger will attack everytime. It is not as though normal staff are hanging out in there. He would have been no more or less likely to attack the next moron. He should have been tranquilized, not killed.

[stopdiggin]

20. I think there is some basis for the 'once attacked'

bearing on likelihood of repeat being valid. I'll defer to the behaviorists .. but I believe they have a certain amount of precedence on their side.

[GoCubsGo]

15. Yeah, I was afraid something like this might happen.

The animals usually wind up paying for human stupidity. This was no exception, sadly. Just sickening.

[Hortensis]

17. Actually, the animals usually live long, healthy lives and escape all

the bad things that happen in the wild, many dreadful. (Mother Nature's a sickeningly evil bitch.)

It's not the life they've evolved to lead, certainly, but it is incredibly safer and more comfortable.

This was Eko.

[GoCubsGo]

18. Well, except for this animal.

Not even safe in a "safe" place.

[Hortensis]

19. Sadly true for this one, GoCubs.

[Ptah]

3. Why did the zoo shoot a dead tiger?

[cinematicdiversions]

4. I had the exact same question. NT

[Demovictory9]

5. sorry... my bad title...will revise

[2naSalit]

7. I was wondering the same.

[Chainfire]

10. The better question may be, "Why was the tiger in a zoo?"

[femmedem]

14. There are only 200 of this type of tiger in the wild. Zoos are helping to prevent extinction. n/t

[Chainfire]

21. And how did that work out for the tiger in question?

[femmedem]

23. There were 3000 Malayan tigers in the wild in the 1950s, now less than 200.

Even five years ago, there were 250. They are expected to go extinct in 5-10 years. You can't look at what happened to this one tiger and project that Malayan tigers are faring better in the wild.

Obviously, things went badly for this tiger, and it's a tragedy both for this individual tiger and for the species. The young man did something incredibly stupid, and the zoo should have made it more difficult to access the tiger as well as impressing upon him the danger of getting within the tiger's reach.

As of 2016, there were also about 110 Malayan tigers in captivity around the world, and zoos are trying to increase the species' numbers through breeding programs. This isn't a black and white issue.

https://www.wwf.org.my/tiger_facts/status_of_malayan_tigers/#:~:text=In%20the%201950s%2C%20Malaysia%20was,the%20turn%20of%20the%20century.

https://newsroom.wcs.org/News-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/8673/Malayan-Tiger-Cubs-at-the-Bronx-Zoo.aspx

I hope that if you reply again, this time it will be without snark. I'm having a shitty enough day. Mr. Femmedem tested positive for covid this morning.

[HAB911]

12. They should have considered him

just a Christmas Dinner

no sympathy here

[Demovictory9]

13. probably cleaner will sue zoo... attorney will say zoo should have made it impossible for

anyone to reach tiger. that's how it goes.

[Hortensis]

16. The officer had to shoot the tiger to get it to release the young man's arm.

That was after kicking the enclosure to get the tiger to let go didn't work.

The young man, in his 20s, was airlifted to a hospital in serious condition.

[Norbert]

22. So the tiger gets put to death for doing what tigers do

because an idiot does what idiots do.

This is so unfair.