IndigNation             WHAT'S GOT YOU HOT?

This is why we should not make a practice of trapping and keeping wild animals. THEY ARE WILD. They are unpredictable, and they generally get pissed off when they are forced in these “habitats” that are completely counter-intuitive to the way that they are programed to live and survive.
We can say that it is for “research”, or for “education”, but the truth of the matter is that it is for the almighty buck. There are plenty of facilities, worldwide, that are dedicated to truly studying, helping, and preserving the many species with whom we share this planet. They are facilities run with people that are highly trained, and highly skilled at what they do. And yes, one could argue that so are the employees at the zoo, such as San Francisco. But let’s face it, facilities and organizations that are honestly geared towards preserving and furthering the advancement of these animals operate in a much different way; they study from afar, they gather information when necessary, they sedate, and then treat, and then release these animals. Because how can we possibly, truly, understand them, if not in their natural environment?
And yes, some need to be kept for fertilization to prevent those species that we have so carelessly caused to become endagered from facing extinction - but this does not ,and should not, include parading them around like circus monkey’s for the public to see. Locking them in these so-called habitats that apparently simulate the plains of Africa, and the likes, in the middle of major metropolitan city. And this is the second offense by the San Francisco zoo in one year (the first being a zookeeper being seriously lacerated by a tiger in captivity).
But we continue to infringe on these magnificent creatures, rather than try to preserve them. We put them on display so that nosy tourists, and bored looky-lou’s can come and point and snap photos, and shout, and throw things, or just simply gawk, at these animals whose every instict tell them that they should be in survival mode. No matter how early of an age that you get them, even if they were birthed at the zoo, they are still wild animals and are unpredictable. Case in point - Sigfrued and Roy!
But in the end, the inevitable human error prevails, and one of these creatures gets out and nature takes it course, and instict kicks in, and the animal does what thousands, to millions, of years of hard-wiring tells them to do; and in the end, it gets killed for simply doing what it knows that it is supposed to do. And we shake our heads and mourn the loss of the people killed in its wake. Yet we never mourn the loss of that animals life, spirit, and right to live freely in the capacity in which it was meant to. Another human gawker is dead. Another innocent zoo inmate is as well.