Authorities continued on Wednesday to search the San Francisco Zoo for clues to how a tiger escaped from its enclosure on Christmas Day, killing one visitor and leaving two others seriously injured.
The 160-kilogram Siberian tiger, named Tatiana, was shot to death by police officers when it was attacking one of the victims near a cafe soon after the zoo's 5 p.m. closing time Tuesday evening.
Investigators were trying to piece together exactly how the animal escaped from its enclosure prior to the attack, and were asking anyone who witnessed the escape or the attacks to contact authorities.
Several searches of the zoo grounds by police officers along with fire department fire department and zoo personnel since Tuesday evening did not turn up any additional victims, according to San Francisco Police Neville Gittens.
It was reported that the same tiger chewed the flesh off a zookeeper's arm on Dec. 22, 2006 during a public feeding demonstration. A California state investigation later ruled that the zoo was at fault for the attack because of the way the cages were configured.
The two survivors in the attack, a 19 year-old man and a 23 year-old man, suffered deep bites and claw cuts on their heads, necks, arms and hands. They were in stable condition Wednesday at San Francisco General Hospital after undergoing surgery, doctors said.
Meanwhile, the man who was killed outside the zoo's tiger grotto has not yet been identified, according to the San Francisco Medical Examiner's office. Officials said they hoped to release the man's identification later Wednesday while working on a positive identification and contacting his family.
The zoo, which was closed Wednesday for the first time in years, was eerily quiet in the morning as police and zoo officials were searching the grounds and handing out equipment, the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper reported on its website.
Officials still had no idea how the animal escaped from its grotto, which is surrounded by a 4.5 meter-wide moat and 6 meter-tall wall, said Lora LaMarca, a zoo spokeswoman.
The rampage began about 20 minutes just after the zoo closed at5 p.m. Tuesday, while dozens of visitors were still inside the zoo, police said.
The animal apparently escaped from the grotto, attacked the first man near its enclosure, then proceeded to the cafe on the east end of the zoo, where it mauled the other two victims and was shot dead by police officers.
Source: Xinhua
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