Tiger Trying to Help?

[Azimaith]

There also was a case where a tiger was getting pet by a zoo handler who was showing it to the crowd. After the pet it it bit her arm and tore it off. How unfathomable is that? They didn't even say anything about an accidental attack or anything.

[Grendal]

I wouldnt say the animal was trying to help but lets face it....it could have ripped Roys throat out with one bite. I dont have any stats but I have seen my dog break a soupbone in half and I can well imagine that the tiger has substantially more pounds per square inch bite pressure than my Lab!

[Azimaith]

Same here, I don't think the tiger desired to hurt him, maybe it freaked him out. Funny thing is, i didn't read anything about tiger related injuries, roy had a stroke when this happened which is why hes partially paralyzed now.

[Sir Kenyth]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: Trying to read the tea leaves as to a tiger's reasoning seems absurd in the end. Look, it's an animal. It has instincts we will never understand. It deserves neither blame nor sympathy for its action. Something clicked inside it, that's all. Ever been petting a cat and had it suddenly become alert, claw you once, and take off running around playing cat games? These creatures are simply not very domestic. Sure, we can share an empathy with them, but we can no more understand the inner workings of their brains than they can understand ours -- at least where a single specific act is concerned.

AMEN! It's a wild animal and doesn't operate on cognitive thinking. It's genetically designed to be a fierce carnivore and aggressive hunter. It's designed to take on very large and strong animals as well as defend itself from others of it's kind. Tigers are not social animals and don't possess a pack mentality. They ferociously attack ANYTHING in their territory that they feel threatened by and think they can overcome. When raising tigers from cubs, trainers try to artificially preserve the more docile cub mentality. I think it's only partially effective.

[Sir Kenyth]

Originally posted by Azimaith: Same here, I don't think the tiger desired to hurt him, maybe it freaked him out. Funny thing is, i didn't read anything about tiger related injuries, roy had a stroke when this happened which is why hes partially paralyzed now.

It could very well be true. Roy was having a stroke and his Tiger saw it and tried to help. It doesn't matter though. Wild animal trainers assume a certain risk with the profession. The tiger shouldn't be held accountable for anything regardless. It's not a domestic animal and shouldn't be veiwed as such. I don't think it's bloodthirsty. Roy would be dead of a crushed neck if it was. I think the Tiger was just confused and reacted to the stress via instinct. You can expect no more or less from such an animal.