These are photos of two tigers taken at Zoo Negara two months ago.
Do you feel safe in the Zoo?
Zoos in any part of the world should assure that the wild animals in the exhibits would not pose any danger to visitors .The safety measures taken should meet the standards recommended by the association of zoos and aquariums (AZA). Visitors too need to be reminded to be abide to the rules for their own safety when they visit the Zoo.
I have visited a number of zoos and I wonder whether Zoo officials can really assure the public that the exhibits are “very safe”.
I remembered reading a report in the newspaper years ago of a lady teacher from Malacca who was attacked and killed by a white tiger at a zoo in Indonesia. I believe there are many more cases and stories like that in the world.
In the “Tiger temple” at Thailand, tourists are allowed to be photographed with the tigers. The tigers were even allowed to be taken out of the temple premise to pose with tourists because the officials in charge assure that these tigers are very tame and safe .
Many curious tourists took this opportunity to pose with these tigers. Are they really very safe for them posting a photograph with these wild animals.
This was the photo taken by W. R. de Boer when the two white tigers at Singapore zoo attacked Nordin. He covered his head with a yellow pail, laid down on the ground, and curled himself into a foetal position.
The Straits Times Singapore reported that Nordin Montong, a 32-year-old cleaner from Sarawak, was attacked and killed by three of the white tigers on Thursday 13-11-2008 about noon in the exhibit at Singapore Zoo.
According eyewitness, Dutch tourist W. R. de Boer who was at the scene, Nordin was seen shouting and flinging items. He then vaulted a low wall and landed in a moat in the enclosure, four metres below.
Carrying a yellow pail and a broom, he then crossed the 1.75m-deep moat, walked up to a rocky ledge near where the animals were and began agitating them by swinging the broom.
As two of the tigers approached him, he covered his head with the pail, lay down on the ground, and curled himself into a foetal position.
In a flash, two of the extremely rare white tigers were on him. One took a swipe at him with its paw – which is about the size of a softball glove – and he began screaming in pain.
Some visitors even assumed it was part of the zoo show, until the huge cat started sinking its teeth into the back of the cleaner’s neck and tossed him around repeatedly like a ragdoll.
Blood could be seen oozing from Nordin’s back. The cleaner struggled and thrashed his legs about and became still about five minutes later.
More than a dozen zookeepers went to Nordin’s rescue. They managed to distract the big cats and shooed them back into their den.
