Reply #113: You're right. The animal had to have been provoked way beyond

[kskiska]

what these guys claim they were doing. This cat expert agrees:

Expert: Yelling, throwing objects would not likely provoke a tiger

Something beyond yelling or throwing rocks must have prompted Siberian tiger Tatiana to scale the wall of her San Francisco Zoo grotto on Christmas Day, a tiger expert said today.

Rick Glassey, who has trained and handled big cats for 34 years, told the Mercury News that a tiger might be enticed to climb out if "Let's say somebody was hanging from that enclosure. She would find herself jumping up there."

But hurling objects? "Possibly," Glassey said, but more likely a tiger facing a barrage would want to simply walk the other way. And a tiger probably wouldn't be provoked by humans roaring or making odd noises: "Cats are used to that kind of thing," he said.

"I would say it's something really getting the cat's attention," said Glassey, whose tiger, Jake, starred in "Dr. Doolittle" and leopard Kaboe was featured in Disney's "Jungle Book" movies.

(snip)

"They're secure in their enclosures, they don't think about leaving" he said. "That's where they were raised, that's their home."

more…
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8010609