The Gray Monk

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December 29, 2005

Don't mess with the tigers .....

Recently I heard from a former colleague about an interesting call out they had had from the local zoo. It appears that some of the local "smash and grab" specialists tried to rob the zoo manager and a member of his staff - but were interrupted by the arrival of the night security patrol.

The thieves made off with the guards in pursuit. One thief separated from the other and vanished, the second was eventually cornered and captured. He could not say where his companion had got to, all he knew was that his friend had scaled what he thought was the boundary fence and escaped. A search was made of the zoo when the police arrived and turned up no trace of the missing miscreant, so he was written off as having escaped and everyone settled down again for the night.

Mid-morning the next day (a Sunday, the - "what shall we do with the kids - I know, let's go to the zoo!" - day.) a rather upset father, with small kids in tow, arrived at the manager's office and demanded to know why they have let a man into the tigers enclosure. Manager denies giving anyone permission to be in the enclosure - and then light dawned! Summoning the police, the ambulance service, the fire service and all spare zoo personnel he rushed to the enclosure! These are not small cuddly toy tigers - there are four of them - a big mean old Tom and his mate and two daughters! The Bengal variety, 600 pounds of pussycat with claws like scythes! Of all the places to try jumping a "boundary" fence, our erstwhile thieves had to choose the section of the zoo that houses lions, ligers, tigers, leopards, panthers, wolves, bears and several other fairly large predators in rather roomy enclosures protected by fences, walls and moats. Not the most intelligent move, if one aimed at a successful and lengthy career.

The man had not been eaten, but he certainly now qualifies for a Darwin Award. He has definitely made his last robbery attempt. The big male had evidently dispatched him fairly swiftly and the daughters had apparently "played" with him for a bit, but evidently found him unpalatable for their fastidious tastes. One can only imagine what must have gone through his mind as the big cat launched itself at him - and I bet it wasn't a lengthy thought either.

It has been decided that the tigers are not to blame and no action will be taken against them. In fact they are now to be examined to make sure they haven't caught AIDS, something that can transfer to the big cats and which, in a feline version, is decimating Africa's wild lion population.

Why was the fire service required? Well, having persuaded the tigers to leave the enclosure and go back to their night quarters, it was deemed advisable to remove the body quickly the way he came in - and not carry "food" past the now upset and disturbed big cats in the sleeping quarters.

And you thought we only put out fires or annoy businessmen with our fire safety inspections.....

Posted by The Gray Monk at December 29, 2005 12:25 PM

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Comments

Posted by: skipjack at December 31, 2005 02:53 AM