I read not too long ago that if lions and tigers had their own historians, the history of safaris would read much differently. I will now be that historian.
Tatiana went out like a champion and heroine. She escaped her enforced enclosure and mauled three men who taunted her from what they falsely assumed was a vantage point of safety. One of the men died trying to protect the first man she attacked, who repaid this one and only act of human courage by running away with his brother, the third perpetrator, to where they thought other people would be-a cafe-possibly assuming unsuspecting patrons there would provide a similar decoy as their by now dead friend. The tigress tracked them there, and resumed her offensive against them. She would have finished them off, but unfortunately, the police arrived a bit too early, and shot her, killing her before she could do more than injure them non-fatally.
Does this particular report sound cruel and heartless? If so, well, the truth sometimes is just that. The two men who survived the attack have issued or released no statements, other than to say they are following the advice of their attorneys. In other words, one might as well come right out and say that these men intentionally provoked this tiger, though their intent in doing so is yet unclear. My assumption is they intended to lure the tiger out of her enclosure, possibly thinking to get well out of harms way by the time she successfully made her way out. She was a bit quicker than they thought, I am guessing, a fact for which one of them paid the ultimate price.
Another report has stated that the parents of the man killed placed a call to one of the two brothers asking of the whereabouts of their son, whom they wanted to come to their home to celebrate Christmas. The brother who answered the phone stated it had been some weeks since last he had seen the man-an obvious bald-faced lie.
I have to wonder what they used as bait to lure the tiger, and if the statement that the dying man distracted the tiger from the other and ended up sacrificing his life to save him might as well be another lie. I happen to think it is, and that the dead man was himself the bait for the tiger, being dangled over the edge of the enclosure, perhaps while unconscious. Maybe in this way, they attracted the attention of the tiger, which already had a developed taste for human flesh from the time a year earlier when she had mauled a zoo employee-an event of which the three men may well have been aware. In fact, Tatiana’s presence, and history, at the zoo were well known. Maybe they stood back and watched as the tiger assaulted the victim (who under this scenario may indeed have been innocent), until the tiger decided to make a go for them as well. I find it telling that the police, after killing Tatiana and securing the area, referred to it as a "crime scene."
We may never know all the details, but one thing is certain-for both of these brothers to refuse to answer questions and to hide behind attorney client privilege is a sure sign that their presence at the San Francisco Zoo, as well as their involvement in this particular matter, was far from innocent.
