They killed the Tiger?

Assume for a moment you are a predator. Your instincts are to attack. You are, by nature, by genetic coding, a predator. You socialize with other tiger cubs with paw-batting and biting.
One day you have a leash or whatever and something startles you. So you bite it. Are you or are you not reacting fairly naturally?
So some Kansas teen, an animal-lover no doubt, wants her picture taken with a tiger. The Tiger, for whatever reason, bites her and kills her. Siegfried or Roy, whichever one it was that got mauled, are you listening? You smurfing took your chances! Guess what, when you hang out in the vicinity of large, predatory, capable animals that have no conception of morality, you are inherently taking a chance. And sometimes (pun intended), it comes back to bite you.
I am sorry for this kid who had her life snuffed early. But guess what. She put herself in harms way.It is pretty sad they decided to whack the tiger. It isn't like the tiger got up that morning, took a shower, combed its hair, selected just the right automatic weapon, loaded itself down with grenades, knives, and ammo belts and went people hunting. Uh-uh, cupcake. It simply did what tigers do.
As the article said, visitors were told that the animals do not always behave in proscribed fashion. And surprise, surprise...a tiger acted in an unexpected way. It happens.
I know I said it above, but I am just so angry that they killed the tiger over this. It would be one thing if the tiger was out on the streets roaming free. It is another thing totally to be in the tigers home in unnaturally close proximity and terminally punish it for being a tiger.
Why does this anger me so much? I think it is about perspective and justice. That tiger did nothing morally wrong. It did not wake up, think about how to get close enough to someone to kill them. It is not a dog in the henhouse with a sudden taste for chicken blood that makes it a danger to have on a farm. It was on an animal reserve.
If something had to die because a teen girl is in the morgue, how about the parents who let their daughter get that close? Or how about the tiger handler who broke regulations regarding proximity to tigers?
And the worst part is it is all so unnecessary. I have seen some amazing things done with digital photos, so it is not even as if you could not get the effect without life endangering proximity.
Maybe next time some idiot gets killed by being unnaturally close to a wild animal, when the executioner goes to inject the needle, join me in a silent prayer that they get jostled and inject themself. That would be justice.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

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AnzaSummer said...

Sounds like the kid should be nominated for a Darwin award. I understand your indignation with the tiger's destruction. Animals often suffer for the incompetence of their owners/handlers.

Riot Kitty said...

I agree! BTW, why are you getting all of this blog spam? I didn't know it was possible!