Siberian Tiger

A Siberian tiger leaped through a glass door into a habitat area for large cats and killed a veteran zookeeper early Thursday, Houston Zoo officials said. Zoo Director John Werler said zookeeper Ricardo Tovar, 59, was mauled on the head and arm by the tiger. The attack apparently was not witnessed by any other zoo workers. The tiger did not escape into an open area and never presented a threat to the public, officials said. The zoo was opened to the public several hours late.

A New York man who is recovering from injuries after he jumped into a tiger's pen in the Bronx Zoo will face trespassing charges, police said Saturday. David M. Villalobos, 25, of Mahopac, N.Y., told police he wanted “to be one with the tiger,” the Associated Press reported. Villalobos survived the jump and ensuing attack thanks to the tiger's less-than-ruthless reaction and the quick work of zoo employees, zoo director Jim Breheny said earlier . Villalobos suffered broken bones from the fall and bite wounds from the tiger but was recovering Sunday.

It was far too cramped to be a movie set and a little crusty for a hospital operating room. But elements of both were molded into one Sunday when a 550-pound Siberian tiger named Reesha got a root canal. Five television crews, half a dozen still photographers and as many assorted reporters converged in the rustic surgical theater of the Wildlife Waystation in Little Tujunga Canyon to record the event. Two San Fernando Valley dentists who usually work on humans did the job.

A 400-pound Siberian tiger named Bachuta soon will be back on display at the Bronx Zoo after a bizarre incident in which a man jumped from the monorail into the tiger den and suffered severe injuries. Zoo workers distracted the cat long enough for the man to escape. Little is known about the man, identified by relatives and friends as David M. Villalobos, 25, of Mahopac, N.Y. He was hospitalized with broken bones and bites suffered during the roughly 10 minutes he was in direct contact with the tiger.

So what do you give the authoritarian who has everything? Well, if you're a provincial governor in Russia's Far East, you give him the pelt of an endangered Siberian tiger. At least, that was what Yevgeny Nazdratenko, the Soviet-style boss of Russia's Primorsky region, presented to Belarussian President Alexander G. Lukashenko last week when the latter passed through Vladivostok on his way home from the Winter Olympics in Japan.

The air is thick with mosquitoes near the top of the oak-blanketed ridge, not far from where the Sea of Japan laps up to the jagged, verdant cliffs of Russia's Far East coastline. That doesn't seem to bother American biologist Dale Miquelle and his Russian assistants, who pore over a small swatch of forest like gumshoes at a crime scene. They note in their logbooks a few strands of orange fur clinging to a leaf, and measure how high off the ground claw marks are gouged into a nearby tree.

A man who stole into the Amsterdam zoo on Monday night to play with the animals came out in an ambulance after a Siberian tiger mauled his left arm when he pulled its tail. Police said the 49-year-old victim, "a known crank who regularly broke into the zoo," may lose his arm.

A 450-pound Siberian tiger named Miguel crashed through a window to attack and kill an employee at the Houston Zoo this morning, zoo officials said. Ricardo Tovar, 59, was killed after the tiger crashed through a 2 1/2-foot-wide window that was part of his cage. "It cut him up and ate him up pretty good," said Houston Fire Department paramedic Howard Shaw. Shaw said Tovar, a 10-year-employee of the zoo, was found by a co-worker about five minutes after the 7:45 a.m. attack.

A volunteer at an exotic-animal farm was in critical condition Tuesday after he was bitten on his neck by a 500-pound Siberian tiger as he shoveled gravel in the animal's cage. Russell Shuey, 39, was attacked Monday at the Burnette Farm and Education Center in Olmsted Township. The tiger will be put to death, police said.

A 400-pound Siberian tiger named Bachuta soon will be back on display at the Bronx Zoo after a bizarre incident in which a man jumped from the monorail into the tiger den and suffered severe injuries. Zoo workers distracted the cat long enough for the man to escape. Little is known about the man, identified by relatives and friends as David M. Villalobos, 25, of Mahopac, N.Y. He was hospitalized with broken bones and bites suffered during the roughly 10 minutes he was in direct contact with the tiger.

A man was in critical condition Friday after apparently leaping from a monorail into the tiger den at the Bronx Zoo, where he was then mauled, zoo officials said. The local ABC news affiliate, WABC, quoted police as saying the man was 25 years old and appeared to be “emotionally disturbed.” He managed to clear two fences surrounding the tiger den when he jumped from the zoo's Wild Asia Monorail at about 3 p.m. He was being attacked when the zoo's emergency staff responded.

The parents of a 17-year-old boy killed by an escaped tiger at the San Francisco Zoo have reached a settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit, their lawyer said Friday. Financial terms were undisclosed, but attorney Michael Cardoza said the zoo agreed to erect and maintain a bench in memory of Carlos Sousa Jr. as part of the settlement. The San Francisco Zoological Society's insurance carrier will pay the entire settlement, and no public funds will be used to close the claim, Cardoza said.

The medical examiner says a teenager who was killed by an escaped zoo tiger six months ago had marijuana and alcohol in his system. The toxicology report released Monday is included with an autopsy that concluded that 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. was killed by "blunt-force injuries of the head and neck." Two of Sousa's friends were seriously injured when a 250-pound Siberian tiger escaped its enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day. Michael Cardoza, a lawyer for the Sousa family, said it was irrelevant whether the teenager was drinking or smoking pot before he was mauled.

Bruno, a 29-year-old orangutan at the Los Angeles Zoo, tried to escape from his enclosure Saturday but was stopped in his tracks -- after about 3,000 visitors were herded toward the exit. After punching a hole through the mesh that surrounds his habitat, Bruno made his move about 3:50 p.m. But instead of heading for freedom, he ended up in a holding area behind the cage, where a handler soon noticed him. Bruno never made it into the zoo's public area, but his attempt prompted officials to ask the park's visitors to head toward the front of the zoo. Keepers quickly approached Bruno, one of the zoo's six orangutans, and sedated him. "He was calm and responded well to the staff," said Gina Dart, promotions coordinator for the zoo. "He was never aggressive."

Officials say an investigation has found there is no indication the city is liable for injuries suffered by two brothers who were attacked by an escaped zoo tiger. In a letter released Friday, City Atty. Dennis Herrera denies claims for monetary compensation "for serious physical and emotional issues" filed by Kulbir and Paul Dhaliwal. The brothers were attacked by a Siberian tiger on Christmas Day after it escaped its pen. The tiger killed the Dhaliwals' 17-year-old friend before being shot by police.

A man who allegedly threw acorns at a rhinoceros at the San Francisco Zoo has been cited for misdemeanor animal taunting. Police detained and cited Juan Zuluaga, 26, last week after officials received a report that he had been tossing acorns at a male black rhino named Mashaki. Zuluaga could have to pay a fine and even serve jail time. The incident comes two months after a Siberian tiger escaped its enclosure and attacked three young men, wounding two of them and killing Carlos Sousa Jr., 17 One of the two survivors told the dead teen's father that they had waved and shouted at the tiger before the deadly attack.

Tony and Emily, a pair of Siberian tigers at the San Francisco Zoo, are just a couple of scaredy-cats. Their eyes bulge, their mouths loll and their ears fold back -- behaviors a feline exhibits when frightened -- upon seeing a lifelike portrait of their popular predecessor. Unfortunately for the two tiger siblings, they are just going to have to cope.

Renovations to the big-cat exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo are complete following a fatal attack by an escaped tiger. The zoo's lions and tigers got their first look at the renovated pen Monday. Once the animals are acclimated to their updated surroundings, officials will decide when visitors can see the cats. The animals have been kept indoors, away from public view, since a Siberian tiger killed a teenager and mauled his two friends on Christmas Day. The renovations include raised walls, new glass barriers and electrified wires to keep the animals from escaping.