The Bobo the tiger discussion thread-What happened? Was it right?

[underpants]

So I am sitting there flipping around the channels and suddenly LIVE Exclusive on CNN the tiger loose in Florida has been killed.

The reporter on scene stated what the local police had told him (the tiger lunged at one of them so they shot it) and the owner is standing there with the tiger's blood covering his shirt. He GOES OFF on the police ~"I told them to stay behind me but they went in front of me and killed my tiger.....I knew they were going to do this from the way they were acting all day.....They just wanted the GLORY and to tell people how they got rid of the tiger....There is no way Bobo just got out there are three doors between him and the outside....I built a wall big wall like the Chinese wall to keep people out, I have had my house burned down TWICE and four (?) of my animals shot......from now on if anyone comes on my property ANYONE they will get what they deserve"

The CNN reporter turns right around and says ~"Well Anderson the tiger tried to attack an officer and the local police had to defend themselves...."

So what do you think of this-what the cops did-the owner etc.

Link to Reuters story

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/life_tiger_dc

[Coventina]

1. Some cops are always looking for an excuse to shoot something

Notice I didn't say ALL cops, so no flames please.

[jukes]

9. *most*

wd be closer to true; a tiger will do, but they'd prefer a human. they yearn for the reputation as a hard-ass, & it's a certain promotion-hook.

[Ruffhowse]

2. I saw the owner's interview yesterday and he sounded very credible.

I am inclined to believe him. It seems greater effort could have been made to try to capture the tiger alive. Such a shame to see such a beautiful animal destroyed.

[underpants]

4. I have to say that that was the impression I got too

They DID mention that Bobo had "mauled" someone in the past-he said that the woman was acting strangely ......

I don't know but the guy did seem to be credible to me. It was amazing to actually witness the complete opposite of the official story being aired and immediately dismissed.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. So what do you think of this???

I have heard the PBC sheriff's gunrange in action... and let me tell you... if you didn't know better.... you would think there was a war going on.... I kid you not. I think they love their weapons..... too much. Sounds like this guy needs to move far away from there.... he is in a somewhat rural area... but it is being built up rather quickly..... too bad about his pet.... maybe he should call PETA. They might be interested in what happened. Ya think?

[underpants]

5. Me?

I offered some of my immediate impression above.

I am just trying to see what others think thus the original thread.

At first I thought "Oh they protected themselves and stopped this thing from attacking anyone" then I saw the owner and saw the "Tiger owner distraught" title CNN slapped up there real quick like. He was obviously upset but that adds more credence to what he said IMHO.

[RebelOne]

6. With all the publicity this story had,

I'm sure PETA is aware of it by now.

[THUNDER HANDS]

7. um...why did this guy have a tiger, again?

Aren't there smaller breeds of cats he could have owned?

[Baltimoreboy]

8. Come on

This idiot kept a 600-lb. tiger at his home. The tiger gets loose and he blames the police? Hell, the first second I saw the damn thing I'd shoot. The tiger is not a house cat. It's not a dog. It's a massive predator and apparently its owner wasn't sharp enough to keep it caged. So his word is wildly suspect.

[TreeHuggingLiberal]

13. Well, I oculd say the same thing about humans...

you know that we are "massive predators." I guarantee that we account for the slaughter of more creatures every year than the tigers could ever dream of. This type of argument reminds me of the rationale for killing mountain lions after they attack humans. It's okay for us to slaughter anything, but the moment that something comes after a human...get the gun

[Baltimoreboy]

20. Well that's bizarre

But we are the top dogs if you pardon the pun.

The day tigers can send one of their brethren into outer space, split the atom or discuss philosophy, then maybe I won't shoot first. In the meantime, they are just dumb animals -- and deadly as well.

So if they cross my path, I would gladly shoot first.

[TreeHuggingLiberal]

23. Shoot first...think later.

The owner of this tiger asked the officers to let him engage the tiger. They wouldn't. Just because a tiger doesn't have the same cognitive ability as humans doesn't make it any less of a creature. Yes, we have gone into outer space, but we have also ravaged a beautiful planet. The tiger takes no more than it needs, it doesn't ruin its environment, and it didn't need to be killed just so the officer can brag about bagging a tiger. They are not just "dumb animals".

[Baltimoreboy]

25. They were doing their jobs

And that includes protecting people -- even the owner -- from potentially dangerous animals.

Of course the tiger is less of a creature. That doesn't mean we should abuse it or wipe it out for fun. But it does mean that humans outrank it -- and all other animals.

[TreeHuggingLiberal]

28. Who produces this animal ranking system?

Anyhow, I do not view us as outranking other animals just because our cognitive abilities have surpassed theirs. We may outrank them by our brainpower, but did you know that for their size birds outrank us on cognitive abilities? I myself am not an all knowing being so I cannot rank any creature over another. We are all beautiful in our own ways, and I would never condone the killing of any animal when other means are available. Once the police saw that this animal wasn't wreaking havoc, they should have monitored the tiger until wildlife officers arrived with tranquilizers. It is standard procedure for this type of incident

[Baltimoreboy]

29. We do because we can reason

There is no ranking based on comparitive size. If an animal is smart enough to communicate its intelligence to us, then fine. The tiger is not.

The police have a job to protect life and property. Human life outranks animal life in all sane societies.

As I said, I saw the idiot owner of the tiger on TV -- CBS Morning Show I think. He said the helicopter had spooked the tiger and that resulted in the shooting.

[TreeHuggingLiberal]

30. I understand the officer's actions if he was being attacked,

but there should have been the following actions occuring. They should have monitored the animal until wildlife agents were able to inject tranquilizer, or the owner should have led the tiger into a cage to be transported home. I see at no place in any of the articles that the animal was directly endangering anyone at the time of its death. The owner was away when the officers shot the tiger five times.

Just because we "outrank" the tiger in your view, that does not give us a right to slaughter it. There were many humane options to capturing this tiger. I was not there so I do not know exactly what happened. I'm just stating that this was the worst possible attempt at capturing this tiger.

As far as your ranking system, we will just have to agree to disagree. Reasoning and cognitive abilities are not the only attributes to rank the "worth" of creatures. Look at our abilities and look at what we have done to the "lesser" creatures of this planet. As far as I'm concerned all creatures on this planet are created equal in the rights that they deserve. We have rabid RW'ers that inflict far more damage on humankind, the animal world, and our environment, but I would never condone this treatment of a single person that has even harmed myself.

[Baltimoreboy]

32. It wasn't slaughter

The police had searched and searched for this animal. It would have been irresponsible to give it a chance to escape again.

If you have a gripe, it should be against the moron who kept a tiger in a neighborhood.

And yes, our outranking the tiger gives us every right to kill to protect ourselves.

Of course reasoning and cognitive abilities are the attributes that matter. The ability to forage in the wild is not the basis for higher thought.

By your claim that, "As far as I'm concerned all creatures on this planet are created equal in the rights that they deserve," you imply that animal life is equal to human.

If that is what you mean, it's nuts.

[TreeHuggingLiberal]

33. That is what I mean, and it is not nuts

As far as anyone here knows it very well could have been slaughter. The owner said he was away for a minute and then he hears five gun shots. All the officers had to do to justify the killing was say the tiger was attacking. You weren't there and neither was I so all I can say is that they had better means to subdue this animal.

Once again as to the rankings, I am not the creator of these creatures so I have no right to hold any life above another. The killing of any creature is the destruction of a life force. Other cultures value tigers as godly creatures. Who am I to say that your beliefs should rank above theirs or vice versa. I cannot possibly determine this so I do not choose to rank the importance of one life over another.

I will just agree to disagree on this one. We have hard battles to wage over the direction of this nation, and since we will never know the truth of this incident I offer a truce.

[dr.strangelove]

10. Once a Tiger gets loose, it fair "game"

Bad pun on "game," I know.

Actually, I don;t know this story. I was out of TV range for a day or so and didn't hear about this. The above posts and a previous thread suggest the Tiger got loose, broke out of the compound this actor built and attacked someone. If thata accurate, it is fair to shoot it. Caring for dangerous animals is a great responsibility. If the owner was not able to prevent this animal from getting loose, and it had a history of attacking people, I am not offended by an officer killing the animal.

I agree that some cops are gun happy, but I know several police officers very well and that is a grossly prejudicial position to hold all cops to. My dad was and my brother and brother-in-law are cops. They have never shot anyone or thing in their collective 40 years on the NYPD. If you see a Tiger coming at you, one that has already attacked a person, I would probably fire too.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

27. NY Cops...

>>I agree that some cops are gun happy, but I know several police officers very well and that is a grossly prejudicial position to hold all cops to. My dad was and my brother and brother-in-law are cops. They have never shot anyone or thing in their collective 40 years on the NYPD. If you see a Tiger coming at you, one that has already attacked a person, I would probably fire too.<<

I don't know if you are familiar with what has gone on in Fl regarding law enforcement... (you know who the governor is) but here is the short list... simply amazing.

http://www.copcrimes.com/florida.htm

[theboss]

11. I don't think Police are trained for tiger duty

If I was armed and saw a tiger, the tiger would be dead. I'm not saying that the police handled things properly, but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt, because, well, it was a freakin' tiger.

[trotsky]

12. That's my opinion, too.

There is no margin of error. Hey, you just might be able to walk up to it with your hand outstretched saying "Nice kitty kitty." However, that's not a guaranteed outcome, and the alternative is potential disfigurement or death. Tigers and other deadly animals just shouldn't be pets. If at all possible, they should be protected in their natural environments. Failing that, they should be given a suitable and humane environment in a zoo.

[guajira]

14. The Tiger Was De-Clawed -- A Pet, but Still Dangerous

Still, why couldn't they have trapped the animal or called in wildlife trappers who knew what they were doing??

I believe this didn't need to happen and I feel sorry for the owner.

Wild animals should not be kept as pets, but shooting it was not the solution to this particular problem.

[soup]

15. Disconnect here

>snip<
They spotted it on Tuesday afternoon and hoped to use a tranquilizer dart to recapture it, but the animal lunged at them and was fatally shot, officials said.
>snip<

But the owner of the 6-year-old male tiger, Steve Sipek, accused the wildlife officers of acting too quickly. He said they should have waited for an officer with a tranquilizer gun who might have saved the animal.

-----

So they spotted it and rather than backing off until someone with a tranquilizer gun could take the cat down, they shot it dead.

Why wasn't someone with tranq darts part of the group? They only have one?

I don't know, I wasn't there. But it doesn't sound like they handled it well.

[redqueen]

16. It's not rocket science - once it's spotted, you wait for animal control

It wasn't rampaging, right? Just wandering around? Did it actually *attack* an officer? I'd like to know a lot more because this stinks out loud.

This happened at the Dallas Zoo recently. A gorilla, IIRC, escaped, and the zoo employee's tranq gun jammed. The zoo had specific security procedures for dealing with such an occurence and was following those, but before they could get another tranq gun, the police shot and killed it.

Is this just another sign of increasing militarization?

[underpants]

19. According to the owner it was sleeping under some brush

like cats do on a hot day.

[Baltimoreboy]

22. Not what I saw him say on TV

He said he was trying to lead it back into the house and a helicopter spooked it. The cops shot AFTER that.

I'm sure you know police officers don't carry tranquilizer darts.

[vptpt]

17. We're talking about Florida here

Maybe that's all that needs to be said.

[SoCalDem]

18. The instant I heard, I thought.. "That tiger is dead"..

ANY animal will act aggressively around someone they do not know.. Couple that fact with being scared/hungry and cops with guns who "might" just be afraid of a 600lb wild animal who could hurt/kill them..Bad situation all around..

The real culprit here is/are the IDIOT(s) who think(s)it's ok to have such an animal as a PET :grr:...

Private ownership of wild animals over a certain size should be illegal.. It rarely ends "well"..

[supernova]

21. I didn't see the owner until the evening news

Poor guy. He was genuinely distraught and I feel badly for him.

It may be that the police got ahead of animal control on this one.

[Zolok]

24. No offense but

from what I understand Steve Sipek (aka Steve Hawkes) is a bit of a nut.
I mean who keeps big man killing cats like that in Palm Beach County??

I'm all for wildlife preservation we don't do enough, but this is plain crazy.

[supernova]

26. He may need a bigger place

out away from town.

[Ganja Ninja]

31. None of this would have happened if it hadn't gotten loose ...

in the first place. It's a TIGER for crying out loud! If your going to keep an animal like that you better be damn sure it can't get out. I'm not going to second guess the police on this. I put the blame on the owner for not keeping it securely locked up. What if it had killed someone before it had been found.