ACT/ Death Is Price Of Freedom At SF Zoo

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ACT/ Death Is Price Of Freedom At SF Zoo KINSHIP CIRCLE PRIMARY - PERMISSION TO CROSS-POST AS WRITTEN 12/28/07: Death Is Price Of Freedom At San Francisco Zoo http://www.KinshipCircle.org PHOTO: This undated handout from the San Francisco Zoo (SFZ) shows female Siberian tiger, named Tatiana, [who] managed to escape from [her] enclosure and maul three people, killing one of them. US media

report that the tiger may have been helped out of its den by one of the victims. http://news./s/afp/20071227/ts_alt_afp/usanimals_071227152920 EMAIL kinshipcircle FOR WORD DOC OF A FORMATTED LETTER. Easily modify letter and copy/paste it into an email or print out to fax or mail. =========================================================== CONTACT INFORMATION. Sample letter follows. =========================================================== Mayor Gavin Newsom City Hall, Room 200 * 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place San Francisco, CA 94102 ph: 415-554-6141; fax: 415-554-6160; gavin.newsom San Francisco Board Of Supervisors City Hall, Room 244, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place San Francisco, Ca 94102-4689

board.of.supervisors SOURCE: http://www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_index.asp SF Supervisors By District Aaron Peskin, District 3: Aaron.Peskin 415-554-7450; fax: 415-554-7454 Jake McGoldrick, District 1: Jake.McGoldrick 415-554-7410; fax: 415-554-7415 Michela Alioto-Pier, District 2: Michela.Alioto-Pier 415-554-7752; fax: 415-554-7843 Carmen Chu, District 4: Carmen.Chu 415-554-7460; fax: 415-554-7432 Ross Mirkarimi, District 5: Ross.Mirkarimi 415-554-7630; fax: 415-554-7634 Chris Daly, District 6: chris.daly Sean R. Elsbernd, District 7: Sean.Elsbernd 415-554-6516; fax: 415-554-6546 Bevan Dufty, District 8:

Bevan.Dufty 415-554-6968; fax: 415-554-6909 Tom Ammiano, District 9: Tom.Ammiano 415-554-5144; fax: 415-554-6255 Sophie Maxwell, District 10: Sophie.Maxwell 415-554-7670; fax: 415-554-7674 Gerardo Sandoval, District 11: Gerardo.Sandoval 415-554-6975; fax: 415-554-6979 ATN: Manuel Mollinedo, Executive Director & President San Francisco Zoo 1 Zoo Road * San Francisco, CA. 94132 ph: 415-753-7080; fax: 415-681-2039 SF Zoo general emails: hr, mediarelations, education, guestservices, marketing, membership, renewthezoo, supportzoo SOURCE: http://www.sfzoo.org/ =========================================================== EMAIL BLOCK: All emails found for this alert. =========================================================== gavin.newsom, board.of.supervisors, Aaron.Peskin, Jake.McGoldrick, Michela.Alioto-Pier, Carmen.Chu, Ross.Mirkarimi, chris.daly, Sean.Elsbernd, Bevan.Dufty, Tom.Ammiano, Sophie.Maxwell, Gerardo.Sandoval, hr, mediarelations, education, guestservices, marketing, membership, renewthezoo, supportzoo *Some emails may be outdated or DISABLED due to this campaign =========================================================== SAMPLE LETTER. DELETE ANY REFERENCES TO

KINSHIP CIRCLE =========================================================== Mayor Gavin, San Francisco Board Of Supervisors, and San Francisco Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo: As officials seek "a better understanding of what actually happened" in the fatal mauling of Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, at San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day, one answer is overlooked. Tatiana, the 350-pound Siberian tiger who attacked three visitors, did not relish life behind walls and moats. San Francisco Zoo director Manuel A. Mollinedo now concedes Tatiana likely scaled her display's 12.5 feet high wall. But even if 16.4 feet walls -- the minimum size recommended by Association of Zoos and Aquariums -- had prevented her escape, Tatiana's impulse to flee would still exist. Last year Tatiana tore the flesh from a zookeeper's arm. Mr. Mollinedo said she "was acting as a normal tiger does." He is right. But when

Mr. Mollinedo seems puzzled over this year's lack of warning signs and describes Tatiana as "very well-adjusted into [her] exhibit," he misses the point. Wild, roaming animals do not belong inside exhibits in the first place. Stringent safety measures are not enough. I urge city and zoo officials to phase out the tiger exhibit at San Francisco Zoo and release surviving animals to a captive wildlife sanctuary such as PAWS in Galt, California. A 2003 Oxford University study lists lions, tigers, cheetahs and other large carnivores as lousy candidates for captivity. "It could be that...some species find roaming pleasurable," states research biologist Dr. Georgia Mason. "They might be designed in such a way that roaming makes their central nervous system develop properly." Open-air enclosures with strategically placed flora cannot replicate a tiger's range, social structure, or hunting patterns.

Siberian tigers need vast forest terrain to survive. Roughly 330-370 adult Siberian tigers remain in the wild, mostly in the Russian Far East where they face habitat disintegration from human expansion, depletion of prey base, poaching, and trade in tiger parts for Traditional . Efforts to stabilize populations within native habitats are crucial. I respect the San Francisco Zoo's commitment to endangered wild cat species, but urge you to promote preservation of Siberian tigers in the Russian Far East -- rather than within the artificial confines of a zoo. Tatiana's brief life ended with a bullet outside the zoo cafe. A teenager died and two more were wounded. Please let remaining tigers savor relative freedom in the open space and organic setting of a sanctuary like PAWS. Sincerely, ===========================================================

SOURCE OF INFORMATION =========================================================== Escaped Tiger Kills One, Injures Two http://allafrica.com/stories/200712280056.html Zoo Admits Tiger Wall Was Too Short http://www.inform.com/related_content/51216114,0 S.F. ZOO TIGER ATTACK OUTRAGE AT CITY HALL http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/12/27/MNA1U50EH.DTL & type=politics Siberian Tiger Project http://www.wcs.org/international/Asia/russia/siberiantigerproject AMUR, Preserving

Tigers And Leopards In The Wild http://amur.org.uk/tigers.shtml PAWS, Performing Animal Welfare Society http://www.pawsweb.org/?gclid=CIeT9Lm_y5ACFQYNIgodTGQiXg =========================================================== FACT SHEET LIBRARY: 50+ Topics For Your Advocacy Materials =========================================================== DONATE to help us print/distribute KC literature: http://www.kinshipcircle.org/donation/ Kinship Circle is a 501c3 nonprofit charity. Donations are tax-deductible. DOWNLOAD FREE FACT SHEETS: http://www.kinshipcircle.org/fact_sheets/ WHY I’LL NEVER BE A ZOO MOM: http://www.kinshipcircle.org/fact_sheets/ZooMom.pdf *************************************************************************************************** Kinship Circle FOR ANIMALS - BEAR WITNESS. SPEAK. DEMAND. ACT. Action Campaigns I Literature I Animal Disaster Aid Networking info or kinshipcircle http://www.KinshipCircle.org * http://www.kinshipcircle.org/disasters/ *************************************************************************************************** UNSUBSCRIBE: * NEVER USE YOUR JUNK FILTER. Don’t ruin KC list for others! * Select a Kinship Circle ALERT received in your mailbox * Hit “FORWARD” * Enter kinshipcircle * Type UNSUBSCRIBE in your subject line and hit send *************************************************************************************************** SUBSCRIBE:

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