Keeper Error Strikes Again

Photo credit

Keeper Error Strikes Again

I have lost count of the number of keepers who have been killed or injured by Big Cats during 2013. It is a lot. Though entering an enclosure with a big cat is always 'an accident waiting to happen' so too is letting your attention waver or misjudging a situation from the outside of a cage.

The latest victim of keeper error was a female employee of the Garold Wayne Interactive Zoological Park (G.W. Exotic Animal Park) which is owned by Joe Schreibvogel....the infamous 'Joe Exotic' who keeps and breeds Ligers and White Tigers. The collection has a very bad reputation.

The 20+ year old keeper had apparently placed her arm into the cage to work on a lock on a divider and was unable to extract it fast enough before she was grabbed by the tiger. Her arm was very badly mauled but it appears at this stage not to be permanently damaged. Details are scant. Some newsline headers have suggested her arm was ripped off whilst others say her arm was still attached and she was able to move her fingers.

Internet photographs suggest that staff at the collection do enter enclosures with some of the big cats and the owner, Joe Exotic is a mega poseur. G.W. Exotic Animal Park does nothing for conservation and earns part of its income breeding and selling tiger cubs to other second rate zoos.

Yet Another Tiger Attack

Yet Another Tiger Attack

On the 7th July a visitor to the Wat Or Noi Temple in Nakorn Pathom, Thailand was attacked and severely injured on the arm and hand.

The temple currently has five tigers and has been keeping these since 2003. The Abbot claims that the animals were legally acquired and are registered with the Wildlife authorities. It is likely that the tigers were acquired from either the 'other' Tiger Temple or the Sri Racha Tiger Zoo which over breeds their inbred Tiger hybrids to a degree of extreme concern.

There are a number of Temples in Thailand which seek to imitate the unglorious success of the main Tiger Temple. Claiming to offer sanctuary these operations actually have no place in Buddhism and are merely fronts to rake in money and offer cheap (and sometimes not so cheap) thrills to gullible tourists.

The Abbot of the temple, Luang Pu Dharma Issara, has stated that the Temple will foot the bill for any medical treatment required.

Zoos in Thailand breed Tigers in large numbers and there is a huge question mark as to where the animals disappear to. Most every collection which does breed will hand rear to offer ignorant tourists to opportunity to bottle feed the cubs or pose with chained (and sometimes drugged) adult tigers.

The most popular facility at present is not a Temple, but the Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand. So successful have they been at duping the public that they are shortly opening a satellite facility in Phuket in the south of Thailand.

All Tigers in Thai collections are meant to be registered with the authorities and each is meant to be micro-chipped for identification purposes. Although this was started some years back it is extremely doubtful whether it is continuing. There is no check on what is happening to the animals. Some years ago Sri Racha supplied a huge number of tigers to Sanya Greatest World of Love in China.

Some zoos in the West also offer Tiger posing sessions or 'walk with tigers' and so unwittingly and in some cases uncaringly promote these nasty Thai 'experiences'. Big cats are not for playing with. They are always an accident waiting to happen.

This attack by a captive tiger is the 4th verified incident since May 2013. There were others earlier in the year.


The others were:

May

June

July

Another Tiger Attack

Photo by Keith Roper

Marissa Dub on Facebook

On Friday, 21 year old Marissa Dub entered a Tiger enclosure at the Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Clay County, USA. The tiger had been split off into an adjacent holding cage but unfortunately the door had not been latched correctly.

'Raja' an eighteen year old tiger was able to the enclosure and attack Marissa, jumping upon her and taking hold of her head.

Staff were able to intervene quite quickly and rescue Marissa using established emergency procedures, which included spraying the tiger with a hose pipe. The injured victim was airlifted to hospital where she presently remains in critical condition though is expected to make a full recovery.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has stated that they will make a decision as to what will happen to the animal. Why any decision needs to me made at all is a puzzle. It was not the Tigers fault. It was doing what comes naturally. As in most Tiger attacks it seems to come down to human error.

The incident bears broad similarities to the recent tragic tiger accident in Cumbria, England where Sarah McClay, 24, lost her life. .

Zoo News Digest

Zoo Biology

Tiger Mauls Keeper

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tambako/2844012888/

Tiger Mauls Keeper
Todays (4th September 2011) 'Bangkok Post' reports of a keeper at the Khaozon Wildlife Breeding Centre in Chom Bung being attacked and seriously injured by a tiger. The news does not seem to have gone much further so far.

It confused me....Khaozon? Where exactly was that? I had never heard of the place. I knew of the Khao Prathap Chang Wildlife Breeding Center in Chom Bueng. As there are no other Wildlife Breeding Centres in the area they simply have to be one and the same.

There is often a problem with animal collection names as I stated in ZOOS IN THAILAND :

"The identification of zoos within Thailand can be confusing for the Westerner. The Anglicisation of Thai words and the way they are written down is the first problem. Even something as simple as 'Dusit Zoo' could confuse especially if it is written down as 'Du Sit Zoo'. Just that little space, which is common enough could lead one to believe that it was an entirely different collection. At the other end of the scale is 'Nong Nooch Tropical Garden' which does not sound like a zoo at all (but there is one there) and this place is sometimes known as 'Nong Nut'. It really could not sound more different. Then we have the recognised common problem as a zoo being known by two different names as for example London Zoo and Regent's Park Zoo being one and the same. Here it is Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo which is also commonly known as Korat Zoo.”

The Khao Prathap Chang Wildlife Breeding Center is also known as the Khao Prathap Chang Open Safari and Wildlife Breeding Research Station.

Admission to this collection which comes under the responsibility of the Royal Forest Department is free. It is here that many confiscated and rescued animals will be brought. The variety of species held here is quite diverse and includes Leopards, Pangolins, Asiatic Bears, Asiatic Golden Cats, Flat-headed cats, Elephants, Gibbons and more. Some of the 50 or so smuggled Orangutans which were rescued from the Bangkok Safari were brought here.
There are breeding programmes in place for a number of species, including Tigers.

The 34 year old zoo keeper Somethai Chanthorn was attacked by a 24 year old tigress called 'Maliwan' as he opened the door to her enclosure whilst trying to transfer her to a new enclosure. Somechai sustained injuries to his head, face, arm and body and was taken to hospital.

The Zoo community wishes Somechai a speedy and complete recovery.

***

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