Wildlife Safari's tigers are safe, animal curator says
The Christmas day tragedy at the San Francisco Zoo is the first time a zoo visitor has been killed by a tiger, and hopefully the last.
Animal Curator Dan Brands of the Wildlife Safari in Winston says wild animals are never totally safe, but the incident in San Francisco makes everyone take extra precautions.
" We're set up a little bit different than other, normal zoo institutions in the fact that a lot of our animals are roaming freely, and it's the guests that are actually in the captive environment in their vehicles."
Brands says Wildlife Safari has never had any guests injured by the lions, tigers, cheetahs, or bears in its history, but they keep security at a high level anyway.
"We have special securities in place such as our jeep Rangers and our tower Rangers and they're watching over the areas and keeping track of where the animals are at. If they see anything suspicious happening with guests, they're very quick to intervene and we have loudspeakers that can announce directions to the guests as to what they need to do for their safety."
The two Siberian tigers here at Winston are brother and sister, and the female is the more aggressive of the two.
It was a female Siberian tiger that killed the young man in San Francisco Christmas day.
The two tigers at Wildlife Safari stay behind a 12 foot fence and don't roam free as some of the other animals do.
Animal Curator Dan Brands of the Wildlife Safari in Winston says wild animals are never totally safe, but the incident in San Francisco makes everyone take extra precautions.
" We're set up a little bit different than other, normal zoo institutions in the fact that a lot of our animals are roaming freely, and it's the guests that are actually in the captive environment in their vehicles."
Brands says Wildlife Safari has never had any guests injured by the lions, tigers, cheetahs, or bears in its history, but they keep security at a high level anyway.
"We have special securities in place such as our jeep Rangers and our tower Rangers and they're watching over the areas and keeping track of where the animals are at. If they see anything suspicious happening with guests, they're very quick to intervene and we have loudspeakers that can announce directions to the guests as to what they need to do for their safety."
The two Siberian tigers here at Winston are brother and sister, and the female is the more aggressive of the two.
It was a female Siberian tiger that killed the young man in San Francisco Christmas day.
The two tigers at Wildlife Safari stay behind a 12 foot fence and don't roam free as some of the other animals do.
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