Tony, a 10-year-old Siberian tiger, plays with his pumpkin as his sister Emily looks on in his pool at the San Francisco Zoo on Halloween, Oct. 31, 2002. All the animals were given pumpkins to play with for the holiday.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)Photo Gallery>>>LOS ANGELES, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- A female Siberian tiger was shot dead Tuesday evening by police at San Francisco Zoo after it escaped from its grotto and attacked visitors, leaving one dead and two others injured, police said.
The incident happened about 20 minutes after the zoo's closing time on Christmas Day, according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper on its website.
The horrific attack by the 160-kg tiger, named Tatiana, came just around one year after the same animal almost chewed the arm off a zookeeper during a public feeding demonstration, the report said.
A California state investigation later ruled that the zoo was at fault for last year's attack because of the way the cages were configured.
Officials said the zoo would be closed Wednesday out of respect for the unnamed victims, who were described by authorities as men in their 20s.
One of the victims was killed outside the grotto where the tigers are kept, while the other two men were attacked near a café on the east end of the zoo, where the tiger was shot dead by police officers.
Investigators plan to comb the zoo Wednesday to piece together how the tiger escaped from its grotto, which is surrounded by a 4.5-meter-wide moat and 6-meter-tall wall, zoo officials said.
Despite earlier worries, three other tigers kept in the grotto didn't escape into public areas, said San Francisco Fire Department spokesman Ken Smith.
San Francisco Zoo has two different tiger species in captivity, Siberian and Sumatran. More humans die each year in tiger attacks than attacks by any other animals, although such incidents are rare since tigers normally avoid people, according to the website.
The incident happened about 20 minutes after the zoo's closing time on Christmas Day, according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper on its website.
The horrific attack by the 160-kg tiger, named Tatiana, came just around one year after the same animal almost chewed the arm off a zookeeper during a public feeding demonstration, the report said.
A California state investigation later ruled that the zoo was at fault for last year's attack because of the way the cages were configured.
Officials said the zoo would be closed Wednesday out of respect for the unnamed victims, who were described by authorities as men in their 20s.
One of the victims was killed outside the grotto where the tigers are kept, while the other two men were attacked near a café on the east end of the zoo, where the tiger was shot dead by police officers.
Investigators plan to comb the zoo Wednesday to piece together how the tiger escaped from its grotto, which is surrounded by a 4.5-meter-wide moat and 6-meter-tall wall, zoo officials said.
Despite earlier worries, three other tigers kept in the grotto didn't escape into public areas, said San Francisco Fire Department spokesman Ken Smith.
San Francisco Zoo has two different tiger species in captivity, Siberian and Sumatran. More humans die each year in tiger attacks than attacks by any other animals, although such incidents are rare since tigers normally avoid people, according to the website.
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