It was Manuel Mollinedo's tiger
The grisly and continuing story of the tiger that escaped from its San Francisco Zoo enclosure on Christmas to kill a man and maul two others brings to news accounts a name familiar and praised in some Los Angeles circles: Manuel Mollinedo, the zoo's director.
Mollinedo left his job as director of L.A.'s Department of Recreation and Parks in 2003, amid sharp budget cuts to his department, to take the San Francisco Zoo job. He previously was director of the Los Angeles Zoo from 1995 to 2002 and won high praise for his management there despite his lack of background in animal care or zoos. The job usually requires at least as much knowledge in the care and feeding of politicians and donors as it does oversight of exotic animals.
At the L.A. zoo, he oversaw improvements and expansions that helped stave off the loss of accreditation by the same organization that now is awaiting a report on the deadly tiger escape.
He grew up in Los Angeles and directed the parks department in Austin, Texas, before returning to L.A.
Mollinedo ran the L.A. Zoo in 2001 on the day that a Komodo dragon bit off a chunk of toe belonging to the San Francisco Chronicle's executive editor Phil Bronstein. That's a fact that may help keep the Chronicle's attention on Mollinedo as the probe of the tiger attack continues.
A related article on the tiger attack and specifically mentioning Mollinedo is over at SFgate.com... hurrah for local (i.e. real on the ground) reporting.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/30/MNNQU63KP.DTL
Posted by: reader | December 30, 2007 at 06:18 PM
Fresh from the tiger attack at Shambala, we have another, sadly resulting in a human death. When will we realize that captured animals which go on the attack are telling us something? Instead of talking about building a higher wall or more secure enclosure, why don't we get beyond our feeling of entitlement to see a captured animal? Tigers don't belong in these prisons known as zoos. Let's spend public funds on something else besides imprisoning animals.
Posted by: sandra m | December 31, 2007 at 10:38 AM
Oh Sandra get a life. All this talk of imprisioning animals as a bad thing is such bullshit. I am a member of the Zoological Society and have been for 18 years so don't give me your poor animals crap. Zoo's across this great country are keeping animals which would otherwise would be extinct alive and well. I wonded how long a Panda Bear would last in the wild? If your going to go after something or someone go after the illegal poachers could care less about saving these animals. Do you really think these exotic animals would survive in this world today. These animanls are so valuable if left unprotected they would be slaughtered for the rich. Zoo's are a great place to take a family and teach children about these wonderful creatures God has created for us to see. The problem here is that this zoo failed to meet the standards that are set up so such incidents do not happen. And I am sick of hearing about these boys taunting the tiger. That is what goes on at zoos. People want to see these animals move around. Even though it is stupid you certainly don't deserve to die because of it. If you have ever been to a zoo don't tell me you never tried to get the monkeys attention by moving around or making a funny face at it. That is why they are in cages so the public is protected from them. Everytime something happens like this you radical libs come out and want to save the world. They are not going to close all of the zoos and put these animals back to the wild so quit your bitching. You are only doing it to make yourself feel liike you are a better person than the rest of us. I bet you drive a Prius. And by the way most money that goes to zoos comes from people like me who donate time and money. You should try to be more charitable that will make you a better person.
Posted by: REGGIE92 | December 31, 2007 at 02:49 PM
The death of the young man is tragic to his family and REAL friends. Unfortunately, this fellow didn't make some wise decisions. He had "friends" who would lie to his father on Christmas about where they were and what they were doing: he had "friends" who continue to act as idiotic and and self-centered as they likely did at the Zoo. They still don't get it. The "Me-first-at-all-costs" mentality remains alive & well.
Now is the time for the father to do the right thing: admit, tearfully, that his son was 90% responsible for his own demise; turn down the million-dollar pay-day that will only encourage more self-centered, retarded behavior; partnership with the Zoo by not suing anybody, but instead, help design barriers with that money that are - if God thinks its even possible - teenage idiot behavior proof. And build a memorial to the Tiger for scaring the poop of of a few punk kids who likely haven't been spanked in a long, long time.
Posted by: K Patrick McDonald | December 31, 2007 at 03:50 PM
I agree that those kids were retards and deserve to be punished, not eulogized. Taunting animals, especially caged ones is reprehensible behaviour and should not be tolerated by parents or zoos .
I think taunting and teasing is also so rampant in schools that this should be stopped. Why do not teachers and parents teach this to children I still don't understand. If not that, what are you teaching them at home or in schools? Are these kids going to be the future of our generation? God forbid!
Yes, the zoo should have a higher enclosure, but the tiger would not and has not got out in the past. To get out, follow the blood trail , pursue and attack those who put a leg or limb out to provoke it follows logic. They got what they deserved. If somebody taunted them, they would hunt out the agressor and do the same!
If their parents raised these lying kids to be responsible, these morons should have been home for Christmas or left the zoo immediately upon closing. Stupid people deserve what they get. Blaming the zoo or claiming millions for loss of a stupid, ignorant son, speaks volumes of the parents who were not responsible or taught their child to be truthful or have loser friends in the first place.
For the stupidity of these 3 idiots, the rest of San Francisco suffers-the city will have to make a lawsuit payout from taxpayer money and the zoo will probably incur millions before things get back to normal again.
I think these 2 sub-humans should make restitution and clean out animal cages until their 99th birthday. Then they should be left to the animals to decide their fate.
Fess up. A beautiful exotic and almost extinct animal is dead. The animal did nothing wrong.
Posted by: Jp | December 31, 2007 at 07:32 PM
I've seen several comments about the fact that the teenagers lied to the boy's father about their whereabouts. C'mon, THAT is typical teenage behavior! Can a single adult making such a comment honestly say that you NEVER, EVER lied to your parents about what you were doing?
Posted by: Barbara Saunders | January 02, 2008 at 03:21 PM
Note to Reggie -- No, I do not make faces at the monkeys to get them to move. I actually agree with a lot of what you are saying, but I do not agree that taunting animals is appropriate behavior for zoo patrons.
Posted by: Barbara Saunders | January 02, 2008 at 03:23 PM
Personally, I just made a substantial donation to the zoo to help re-open the cat exhibits. Those 2 cowards left their friend, lied, and have now hired the ULTIMATE dirtbag lawyer to try to get millions out of the zoo. The tragedy here is of 2 lost lives, the boy and the tiger. These other punks were obviously raised wrong, and with money in their hands, will help deter society of it's decent law abiding folks!
Posted by: chris durfee | January 03, 2008 at 08:07 AM
The Zoo and City got what it deserved. This narrow minded short-cut society will continue to fail operating under this type of model. If you want to see animals go to the tenderloin you can always catch a good show there.
Posted by: THE BOSS | January 03, 2008 at 11:26 PM
are you all mad who gives a shit about the tiger-i cant believe they built a memorial to this killer- a kide died and they build a memorial to an animal how ignorant
Posted by: jack | March 19, 2008 at 07:01 PM