The Paducah Sun from Paducah, Kentucky • 6

Nation 6A Thursday, December 27, 2007 The Paducah Sun paducahsun.com Tampering theorized in zoo death 7no director Manuel Mol- 4 ri Officials probe escaped tiger attack i Pabte "5 iCTmi -v San Francisco -Pacific Ocean Investigators are still uncertain how a tiger from the San Francisco Zoo escaped from an enclosure surrounded by a 15-foot-wide moat and 20-foot-high wall Tuesday. Three men were attacked on the east end of the 125-acre zoo grounds near Ocean Beach. wQakland WAWONAST. ft San Francisco Zoo walkabout South American Tropical Forest President Bush Hillary Clinton Ocean Beach Family Farm Tiger tracked to Terrace Cafe after fatally mauling man Parking lot Carousel Koalas "Flamingos Parking Main entrance Forest Chmpan2ee mc Gnzzly Pengutnss uuen Eagle Island African Savanna Black rhino Most admired President Bush, Hillary Clinton Gorilla 5 AfH( 4" AD. 0 BY JORDAN ROBERTSON Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO The big cat exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo was cordoned off as a crime scene Wednesday as investigators tried to determine whether a 300-pound Siberian tiger that killed a visitor escaped from its high-walled pen on its own or got help from someone, inadvertent or otherwise.

Police shot the animal to death after a Christmas Day rampage that began when the tiger escaped from an enclosure surrounded by what zoo officials said are an 18-foot wall and a 20-foot moat. Two brothers who also were visiting the zoo were severely mauled. Police Chief Heather Fong said the department has opened a criminal investigation to "determine if there was human involvement in the tiger getting out or if the tiger was able to get out on its own." Police said they have not ruled anything out, including whether the escape was the result of carelessness or a deliberate act. Fong said officers were gathering evidence from the tiger's enclosure as well as accounts from witnesses and others. One zoo official insisted the tiger did not get out through an open door and must have climbed or leaped out.

But Jack Hanna, former director of the Columbus Zoo and a frequent guest on TV, said such a leap would be an unbelievable feat, and "virtually impossible." "There's something going on Lions and tigers display area linedo said Wednesday that he gave no thought to destroying Tatiana after the 2006 incident, because "the tiger was acting as a normal tiger does." As for whether Tatiana showed any warning signs before Tuesday's attack, Mollinedo said: "She seemed to be very well-adjusted into that exhibit." It was unclear how long the tiger had been loose before it was killed. The three visitors were attacked around closing time Tuesday on the 125-acre zoo grounds. Four officers hunted down and shot the animal after police got a 911 call from a zoo employee. The zoo has a response team that can shoot animals. But zoo officials and police described the initial moments after the escape as chaotic.

The dead visitor was identified as 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. of San Jose. The two injured men, 19- and 23-year-old brothers from San Jose, were upgraded to stable condition at San Francisco General Hospital after surgery. They suffered deep bites and claw wounds on their heads, necks, arms and hands, said Dr. Rochelle Dicker, a surgeon.

She said they were expected to make a full recovery. The zoo's director of animal care and conservation, Robert Jenkins, said the tiger did not leave through an open door. "The animal appears to have climbed or otherwise leaped out of the enclosure," he said. But the zoo's director admitted, "We're still not too clear as to exactly what transpired." C35) Pacific Ocean Lakt Merced AP SOURCES: San Francisco Zoo; Map by J. Blanchard, S.F.

Chronicle; ESRI Most admired President Bush and Hillary Chiton topped a USA Today-Gallup poll naming the most admired man and woman Amenca. Here are the top vole-getters with- tftefr percent- age of votes: WOMEN Pet Hillary 18 I Oprah Winfrey 16 Laura Bush. ....3 Angelina Jolie 3 MEN PC. President Bush 10 Bilt Clinton 8 Barack Obama.w Si definitely make an animal more aggressive, but "whether it makes it more likely to get out of an exhibit is purely speculative." The police chief would not comment on whether the animal was taunted. The same tiger, a 4-year-old female named Tatiana, ripped the flesh off a zookeeper's arm just before Christmas a year ago while the woman was feeding the animal through the bars.

A state investigation faulted the zoo, which installed better equipment at the Lion House, where the big cats are kept. here. It just doesn't feel right to me," he said. "It just doesn't add up to me." Instead, he speculated that visitors might have been fooling around and might have taunted the animal and perhaps even helped it get out by, say, putting a board in the moat. Similarly, Ron Magill, a spokesman at the Miami Metro Zoo, said it is unlikely a zoo tiger could make such a leap, even with a running start.

"Captive tigers aren't nearly in the kind of shape that wild tigers have to be in to survive," he said. He said taunting can BY NATASHA METZLER Associated Press I WASHINGTON They're the odd couple again: George Bush and Hillary Clinton, the most admired man and woman in 'America. Though they stand on opposite sides of a political divide, the Republican president and the Democratic senator from New York are sharing the honor for a sixth straight year, according to a USA Today-Gallup poll. -They didn't win by much. Oprah Winfrey and Clinton's husband, former president Bill, were right behind.

When people were asked to name the man they most admire, 10 percent picked Bush, his lowest figure in the seven years he has been president. Bill Clinton got 8 percent I within the poll's margin of sampling error while Nobel Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore had 6 percent and Illinois Sen, Barack Ohama, a presidential hopeful, was chosen by 5 percent, Whoever is president has won the most-admired title every year since 1981 Sen. Clinton, hoping to be president-elect by the time of Make Intrepid USA the next poll, was named by 18 percent as the most-admired woman, the 12th time she's been in the top spot. Talk show host Winfrey came in a close second with 16 percent. First lady Laura Bush and actress Angelina Jolie were each selected by 3 percent.

The poll, released Wednesday, asked participants an open-ended question, allowing them to respond with any names that came to mind. The rest of the votes were spread among a wide variety of government figures, movie stars, friends and relatives. Queen Elizabeth II was in the top 10 for a record 41st time. The poll of 1,011 adults was taken between Dec. 14 and 16 and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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