The crowded Topeka Zoo was evacuated within ten minutes of the attack, when a male Sumatran tiger and a zookeeper “were in the same space,” according to a city spokesperson. The zoo says the tiger was doing “what a wild tiger does” and will not be put down.
I don't think that they would regard it as punishing the cat. Punishment is for behavior modification and you can't modify an animal's behavior much if it's dead. I think that they decided that leaving the tiger alive didn't increase its danger level. In fact the mauling may have lowered the danger level. All the rest of the keepers, and probably the one attacked too, have now had their behavior modified by some pretty severe punishment.
I could understand something like this happening to a visitor, they can't be expected to know what they're doing. The zookeeper should have known better. It only takes forgetting the basic rule for a few seconds to have something like this happen. The basic rule is, "If you're dealing with an animal that considers you to be just so much meat, DO NOT get into the cage with it. If you do, you deserve whatever happens to you." To quote the late Robert Heinlein, "Stupidity is always a capital offense. Sentence is carried out automatically and there is no appeal".
All the rest of the keepers, and probably the one attacked too, have now had their behavior modified by some pretty severe punishment.
To often they think these big cats are safe because they're friendly most of the time but just like a house cat can hurt you while "playing" or just setting boundaries these big cats are just doing what they would with peers they don't understand how fragile Humans are. Most of these captive big cat attacks are not meant to kill, they could do that in three seconds if they wanted to so the fact so many of the victims actually survive is proof that killing isn't the tigers intent.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
When you keep wild animals and they behave wild, why would you even think of punishing them?
I don't think that they would regard it as punishing the cat. Punishment is for behavior modification and you can't modify an animal's behavior much if it's dead. I think that they decided that leaving the tiger alive didn't increase its danger level. In fact the mauling may have lowered the danger level. All the rest of the keepers, and probably the one attacked too, have now had their behavior modified by some pretty severe punishment.
I could understand something like this happening to a visitor, they can't be expected to know what they're doing. The zookeeper should have known better. It only takes forgetting the basic rule for a few seconds to have something like this happen. The basic rule is, "If you're dealing with an animal that considers you to be just so much meat, DO NOT get into the cage with it. If you do, you deserve whatever happens to you." To quote the late Robert Heinlein, "Stupidity is always a capital offense. Sentence is carried out automatically and there is no appeal".
To often they think these big cats are safe because they're friendly most of the time but just like a house cat can hurt you while "playing" or just setting boundaries these big cats are just doing what they would with peers they don't understand how fragile Humans are. Most of these captive big cat attacks are not meant to kill, they could do that in three seconds if they wanted to so the fact so many of the victims actually survive is proof that killing isn't the tigers intent.