It was a tragedy that occurred on Christmas day at the San Francisco Zoo. A tiger managed to escape from its enclosure and killed a teenager and wounded two others. The tiger was eventually shot and killed by police.

I hold the zoo completely responsible for this incident. Even though an investigation is underway as to how the tiger could have got out of its enclosed area, the zoo should have had more safety measures in place to prevent such an incident from taking place. What is even more confounding is that a former zoo keeper was mauled by the same tiger a year ago at a public feeding. One would think that extra measures would have been taken to ensure the safety of animals, zoo staff and visitors after this first incident, but now, an innocent life and a creature of the wild are both dead and it’s too little too late.

Tigers, like most other wild animals at a zoo, are creatures that were never meant to be trapped in a confined space. Zoos are a lot more sensitive to the natural habitats and lifestyles of these creatures than in the past, but this also means that zoos have to ensure that these animals are housed in a safe enclosure that doesn’t pose a threat to humans and animals alike.

I just hope that something like this never happens again.