From Reuters:
Three white tigers mauled a Malaysian to death in Singapore’s zoo on Thursday after the man jumped into their enclosure, a zoo official said.
Nordin Bin Montong, 32, a Malaysian working in Singapore, leapt into the moat of the white tiger exhibit and was attacked, said Biswajit Guha, assistant director of zoology at the Singapore Zoo in a statement.
The noise from the attack caught the attention of zookeepers nearby and they eventually managed to distract the tigers and rescue Nordin, still alive.
“Keepers managed to separate the worker from the tiger. While waiting for the ambulance, our vets attended to him,” said Guha. “The worker tragically succumbed to his wound.”
The Singapore Zoo said the white tiger exhibit would be closed and investigations were ongoing after the midday attack.
According to conservation group WWF, there are about 4,000 tigers left in the world and they are considered an endangered species.
White tigers are even rarer because they suffer from a genetic condition that strips their fur of the orange pigment, leaving the animal with snow white fur, black stripes and blue eyes.
(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Neil Chatterjee)
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Dear Von,
I know exactly what you mean. To me, the case is a very isolated one. I mean, how often do you see people climbing into tiger enclosures to commit suicide or for some other unknow reason. Really, it’s a waste of time and resources trying to prevent a similar incident from happening in future.
It is not only pointless but totally impractical to implement all these “safety” measures. If someone hangs himself with a rope, do we make people go thru psychological screenings before they can buy ropes? Or sign a letter to declare they are not going to hang themselves with the rope they are buying? I never understood why, time after time, the reactions of the authority is always to implement some silly measures that doesn’t make any sense.
Recently, I think I am starting to understand WHY. It’s not so much to prevent a similar incident in future. But to “address” the “concerns” of the people. Just as yellow leaves may be gold coins to satisfy crying children, thus so called safety measures and preventive strategies appease the ignorant citizen.
Dear Gemani,
“It is plain and clear to all readers that neither the zoo, nor its employees, knew what to do. Because it never happened before? Because the zoo had an excellent track record on zoo safety? Are these reasons valid? What can be done?
Scrutinizing every visitor for suicidal tendencies is betond the zoo’s control but do you not agree that the zoo can put in place some measures within its control? Let’s not get hypothetical here. Simple measures will do.”
So share some suggestions with us how to prevent this from happening again.
Dear Husky,
“Just as yellow leaves may be gold coins to satisfy crying children, thus so called safety measures and preventive strategies appease the ignorant citizen.”
LOVE THIS LINE
Dear Gemani,
Who are you to judge which life is greater than which? Please don’t play God.
Animals above humans or humans above animals? The plain fact is they are all sentient. The action required is really to minimise the loss of lives as much as possible, whether its human lives or animal lives.
According to the zoo, by the time the rifles arrived, the man is already dead. And it is the tiger’s instinct to kill (they’re probably only playing but its deadly enough!). Tigers are master predators, remember that.
You cannot blame the tigers for killing the man and make the tigers pay with their lives. Your view is bias because you are human. If you hold this view and if you are a dog, you would say that a dog’s life is above-everything.
We have been told by media stories that Noordin was deranged …etc
He was cleaner, there was a broom and pail (if the reports were correct), he was in tiger den …..
It is in all animals’ instinct to defend themself, and yes, humans included.
Let’s say a man entered your house waving a knife at you, will you not find something to defend yourself against that man?
It’s the same as what the tigers did, the man jumped in unannounced, and started waving his broom at the tigers. So the tigers see him as a threat to their territory and went up to the intruder, it was also stated in the news that the man tried to put his pail over the head of the tiger. I’m sure that even a human would retaliate when someone tries to put something over his head forcefully.
I feel sorry for the man but I do not feel that the tigers should be killed just because of the actions of the man. If he did not jumped in, would the tigers have killed anyone at all?
Dear Von, Moonlight, Husky, Tiger & Alvin,
I shall not comment any further as I respect your stands even as I do not agree with your reasons for taking those stands. I have laid bare my reasons, views and opinions and there is nothing else much to add to them.
It therefore suffice for me to conclude that your bosses at the zoo has concurred with my suggestions and have admitted publicly that there are measures that can be reviewed and adopted due to this incident.
Thanks for all your views and opinions.
I have enjoyed sharing my views with you guys and I hope we can leave this discourse carrying away with us some important ingredients that make us think the way we do ;)
BTW, the keepers carried the rifle and not shoot it is not because they do not have permission or sort…
The rifles are there in case the tigers do not back down and continue to attack even after the keepers chase them away from the victim. If it comes down to that, they will have to shoot the tigers to ensure no other casualties occur. So it may seem that the tigers are endangered so they do not shoot them, but keepers should know the behaviors of the animals in the zoo well enough that even if the tigers are tamed, they are still wild animals and that unpredictable things WILL occur.
Well, gemami, as long as you stand by firmly on what you believe, I have nothing to say, just wanted to let people die more often from car accidents and other sorts than from an animal attack, let alone one in a zoo.
actually its a suicide…sort of but he regretted going inside
I think the topic here is going out of the question..like moonlight was saying..we are bias coz we r human…ur not bias coz ur not human?? or coz ur an employee there?? u see this kind a quote doesnt makes the world better for human or even animals..in my opinion..YES..Human lives are more important than animals..YES the tiger should not be shot..NO..!!! we shall not decide if its a suicide and blame the man of stupidity..coz only he himself knows wat actually happen..we are quarreling here but the family is in extreme sadness..im sorry for their loss..and another thing..i know this may soundcrude(no intention of hurting anione) if the deceased were my relatives,i would want to shoot the tigers..i wouldnt be saying er..get out!!! there are other ways to die..coz im a human..i love my relatives more than animals… =(
hi ther readers im sorry if my writting or spelling is incorrect or lots of typo coz im not good in english…
here i want to review the articles regarding about tigers attacked man recently in singapore zoo….
Justice voice i don’t think its was a tigers faults in this accident, the fault come from that man himself. 1st thing the man is a cleaner and not the zookeeper and also has no authority to enter into the tiger cage for no any purpose or reasons… cleaner the job is to cleaning certain area which has been athorised from the managment site, whereby the zookeepers their jobs maybe feeding, bathin or trained the animals, but don’t mistaken… not all the zookeepers can go to any animals cage, zookeepers has been trained have a certified cert and also have been post to which animal they should belong to and take care of. if you would said that tigers should be blame but not the man, do you think this is the answer??? just put this scenario, if someone unknown enter your house without you knowing who is he, will you shock in the beggining?? quickly take the broom or anything to whacked that fellow??? of coz ;-) or will you just keep quite and smilling certainly not…! ;-) will any of your family member put you in a sleep or shoot you to death after all the happening they see what you did??? here comes the actual case, the cleaner man is entering into the tiger cage for no reason, and of coz the tigers does not recognised him and yet of coz for protections the tigers will attacked him coz they think that this man trying to harm them or maybe shoot them… at the 1st place out from the blue moon why is this cleaner man trow himself into tigers? whereby he knows that what he want to do is crazy, dangerous and his life is at risk stage???? or maybe he want to be a zoo hero which can escape from the tigers mouth??? hello this not a action movies in films okey and his not even qualified to be a safari guy… Lol…. i show you 1 examples scenario, if you would see a train(MRT) coming to fast and you know if step on the yellow line possible that the train(MRT) will hit you rite??? but if you know that if you jump down from the train(MRT) track the train will knocked you down do you still want to jump??? only if you insist, but if you did,,, will the people put a blame on the MRT manangment saying that they have no safety and want the MRT to stop process or shoot the train to die just because of 1 stupid man fault that jump off??? of coz not am i rite???? then why must you guys put a big fault on this poor innocent animals??? isit just becaouse thoes animals is dangerous, got no brain, cant talk cant argue and useless??? so you happy2 blame on this tigers??? is that so??? ohh for god sake please wake up my dearest friends…. if you preview back the last articles or the videos, if you see that the tigers is insides the cage and not outside the cage, and the man from no where enter without invitations…. so its means the man himself go in into the tigers cage and he deserved it, unless if this cleaner man is sweeping or cleaning outside the cage at the very far distance and sunddenly the tiger jump out from the cage and chase the man, is ok if you want to blame the tigers or can make the tiger sleep, or maybe shoot the tigers to death even myself want to do that out of anger ;-) or maybe you can also have a action taken against the zoo managment for not having a safety precaution… that yesss i agree without objection… but look at this the tigers is is inside the man that trow himself in, that why the tigers attacked him somehow the tigers dosent know who the hell is he….! am i rite to say this??? ok now i don’t want to talk about tigers man eater… now i want to talk about animals, all animals got no brain, they cant think whatever people give they think is a food, not only tiger all animals even a dog or anything…. 1 more scenario… if you were to know that this dog is a very dangerous creature, will you make yourself near them? do anything funny??? of coz not rite coz you know its dangerous and what happened if i come near them of coz they will run chase me and attacked me rite??? hey even the ghost will attacked you if you come to their place and do funny2 things Lol ;-) hey come on guys all the animals in the zoo is well trained and maybe they also given mediciance or some injections. From wild animals they now become loving pets… look at all this poor animals they even far from their families come here and entertain you people why don’t you people appreciate the good deeds they giving to you??? why must you destroy them??? don’t you see how cute they are??? why you people want to make this issue bigger??? dont you care about their feelings too? dont think that they have no feeling okey? they have feeling too, who knows rite now the tigers is feeling sad and talking among themself why is this thing happened out of sudden ;-( … why the zookeepers who feeding them or trained them not been attacked? and why this cleaner man been attacked? i don’t see no reason the tigers want to attacked this man without any resonable reason, do you think that this man look delicious and yummy to them???? Lol ;-) even night safari all the animals come out i don’t see anyone been there and been attacked by animals??? i think i have 1 sudgestion, Lets no make things difficult for everyone especially the zoo managment who now carried a biggest responsibility because of this cleaner man action, why not the zoo managment install a CCTV camera at every corners in animals cage and monitoring 24hrs everday for references, just in case if such like this accident happened again the managment can rewind and playback the video and watch what is actually happened and how the accident happened and how does its start… i think thats is good sudgestion otherwise everybody will pointed a finger here and there and putting all the blames…my dearest fellow friends please use your brain and think about it, dun use your anger coz when you are angry you cant think which 1 is rite and which 1 is wrong, think also about the other party have a justice…thats all i about to say my oppinion… thank you and have a nice day….
i believe that it was a mistake done by cleaner nordin. the animals were not at fault. jus consider it to be a misadvantureat of d death. may he rest in peace, n they b in peace also. waheguru…
To all…
Lets not blame e man or e tigers either.. We dont even noe e real situation n which is which.. Everytiing happen for a reason.. Nothiing happen for no reason.. Its between god n e victim itself noe wat’s reallii happeniing.. or maybe a poliice job to fiind out wat’s reallii happeniing but i guess they wont get e truth situatiion as e person alreadii dead.. Let stop blaming either one of it animal or human.. lets just hope tat e man rest in peace.. iits not good to blame anyone speciially those tat oreadii not iin diis world.. let’s put it diis way.. do eu liike iif eu diie iin diis manner n people keep on sayiing diis n tat which is not true at all.. you all r here blamiing diis n tat but hs family down der pretty sad.. iit even more hurting iif any of his family or relatiiives to read all thiis.. tiink back jus tiink wat iif ur at their shooess..
tats all ii cann comment.. just an adviice no harm aiite.. Cheers!! =j
Reactions to the White Tiger Incident
On the 13th November 2008, an apparently disturbed worker was mauled to death by three tigers at the Singapore Zoo on Thursday when he deliberately jumped into their enclosure. The white tigers pounced on the 32-year-old contract cleaner after he jumped into the moat surrounding their enclosure and then moved toward the animals. Fellow workers reported that he “was acting a little bit erratic and odd, throwing papers around” before the incident and the victim even told one of the zookeepers, “Goodbye, I won’t be seeing you again.” The zookeepers only threw rocks to distract the animals while the victim, after the first bite from the tigers, put a pail over his head. After a while, the zookeepers had suceeded in luring the tigers away but it was too late for Norbin Bin Montong.
Although numerous tourists and locals have raised questions about the Singapore Zoo’s safety measures, I feel that the Singapore Zoo is safe. I do not feel that the incident was all the fault of the tigers.
Firstly, the man is a cleaner and thus has no authority to enter the enclosure. The cleaner’s job is only to clean the areas authorized by the zoo management and certainly not the tigers’ den. Even among zookeepers, only those zookeepers with certification can be posted to enter the den. Therefore, when the cleaner entered the tigers’ den, the tigers’ suspicions were aroused for they had never seen the cleaner before and did not recognize him. Especially since the cleaner was waving the broom at them, the tigers reacted out of self-defense as they are very territorial animals. That plus his actions inside the cage were pretty evident that the cleaner was not an ordinary victim. By going into the enclosure, he is posing a danger not just to himself but to the animals.
Secondly, the whole commotion involving the killing of the cleaner was in a short two minutes, not a very long time. Even if the zookeepers had gone to take the tranquilizer gun, he may not have reached the enclosure in time to save the cleaner. The cleaner had the intention to enter the den, he wished to die. But if the tiger had somehow dragged the cleaner into the enclosure, that would have been the zoo’s fault for not training the tigers properly. Here we are talking about a deranged man, who has decided for whatever reason, to go into a tiger enclosure. Shoot the tigers. Save him. Well done! Tomorrow if you find him inside the pandas’ enclosure, well… take no chances… shoot the pandas too. The day after tomorrow, what if he ends up at someone’s house?
I feel that man is a danger. Instead of jumping into a tiger enclosure, he could have released other animals. If he had did that instead, I wonder if we will still be talking about how poor the man is, and how much we pity his family. No matter how many safety measures the zoo undertakes, we can’t stop someone if he wants to play drums to tigers and invite them to maul him to death.
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Depends on which angle you’re looking from.
Man’s angle: Attempted suicide, he changed his mind but could not get out.
Zoo’s angle: An accident, the zoo workers did not know whose life to save, the tigers’ or the man.
Tigers’ angle: Neither. It was free lunch what.
Man’s family angle: Murder. No one took the necessary precautions when they knew the man was behaving abnormally. Imagine if he had decided to free some predators at the zoo?
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i copied some stuff from other posts because i fully agreed and wished to emphasize them. credits: Husky & gemami :D
P.S. i’m only 13 so pardon me if i make any mistakes or offend anyone :D
oh yeah. and credits to nefa too ;)
i just touched up abit on his english for my 2nd paragraph :)
To all you animal lovers out there! Please help to save Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve!
Sign the petition at http://www.savestevesplace.com/
Steve Irwin is one of the best Conservationist and Animal presenter ever, so please help to keep his legacy alive! Thanks
(I know this have nothing to do with the article. But it is important that we do our part in saving the wildlife.)
yah (: agree (: ty alvin for the suggestion :D
yeah.. such a scariiest incident jus hope e man rest in peace..
Anyone has the 4mins video? Can send me video at Living_corpse89@hotmail.com plz plz plz…thank u!
yah i agree with husky’s post on nov 17 2008, if a man really wants to shoot himself with a gun, what could we do? ban all the guns on earth to pluto? pratically impossible. just mind your own business and make sure you are in the right state of mind.