I suppose it also has to be looked at from the angle that the tiger doesn't necessarily know the difference between drunken fools taunting it and, say, a small child throwing a noisy attention-attracting tantrum near its enclosure. Which could easily happen almost any day.

This not being Tatiana's first attack on a human being does say to me that putting her down was most likely for the best.

I feel bad that the tiger paid with her life for the stupidity of a bunch of dumb, drunk, high kids. I guess I feel bad that the one kid also paid for his stupidity with his life, but at least it was his *own* stupidity and not someone else's.

Wasn't the kid who died the kid who wasn't tormenting the tiger? and who tried to get the tiger to stop attacking the other kids when it turned on him?

Not really sure if that's the case....

What are people doing this weekend?

tommy, I think you are right. I mean, I think the kid that died was there, but I'm not sure he was the main tormentor. I guess I see this as a situation with three parties - the kids, the zoo, and the tiger. Of the three, the tiger was acting appropriately for who she was. The zoo and the kids were wrong but the tiger was the one that got killed for acting according to her instincts.

I think the officers that shot the tiger did the right thing and really had no choice. It just bugs me how the tiger paid for the lapses/dumb decisions of others.

Tomorrow, Joe, Ellie, and I are headed to the beach, a birthday party, and packing. SUnday, Ellie and I are flying to see my parents.

I'm deep cleaning the house and going out to buy an interview outfit!!!

And then I have Monday off and it's an interview and then probably chill out and try not obsessive over if I blew it.

This not being Tatiana's first attack on a human being does say to me that putting her down was most likely for the best.

I don't agree. This was not a domesticated animal, but something wild and enormously dangerous to humans by design. Humans chose to put this animal on display, and once that happened, a contract is in place between the humans and the animal that no harm should come to it, period.

It's all on the zoo, here. The animal bears no responsibility.

Are all of her ads/flyers/whatever in English, bonny? That could be a barrier.

Good point. She's been working with some bilingual folks to help bridge this problem.

She came over for a session this afternoon and I think we may have had a breakthrough. Rather than looking for people in need of a job, she is going to look at her potential employees as a target audience and begin looking for people who love to clean. Granted, there are far fewer of them, but she doesn't need or want a huge pool to fish from. Just a small band of dedicated folk who want a good work experience in conjunction with their interest in cleaning.

We joked about asking for referrals to people with ocd tendencies. Joke! Really. I know better than that. BUT, there are folks in the world who love to clean. I know because of my own dish washing issues...

Anyway, I'm hoping the shifted perspective will help her move past the frustration. Forward movement in any direction has to be better than stunned immobility.

Does anyone remember Binky the polar bear?

I'm not blaming Tatiana in the "you naughty cat" sense Allyson, but since she was a proven danger beyond the level normally associated with big cats in captivity, I think it's better that she was killed than risk another tragedy in the hands of a zoo that obviously wasn't up to the challenge of keeping people safe from her.