Escaped tiger kills visitor, mauls 2 at San Francisco Zoo

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — A tiger escaped its cage, killed a visitor and mauled two others Tuesday evening at the San Francisco Zoo, in a shocking Christmas Day attack one year after another mauling.

Police shot and killed the tiger outside the zoo's Terrace Cafe shortly after the zoo closed to visitors at 5 p.m.

They encountered the tiger mauling a man who was covered in blood, said San Francisco Police Department Sgt. Steve Mannina. When the officers attempted to intervene, the tiger turned and headed toward them, prompting several officers to fire numerous shots at the tiger. The dead tiger remained outside the cafe as darkness fell over the zoo. Two others mauled by the tiger were rushed to the hospital with critical injuries.

Some zoo employees in the gift shop locked themselves in as they had been instructed in case of emergency, but would not comment further.

According to the zoo's Web site, the zoo has two Siberian tigers, Tony and Tatiana, who live in an outdoor enclosure near the Lion House. It also has a female Sumatran tiger, Padang, at the west end of the Lion House. It was not immediately clear which tiger escaped.

The attack occurred about a year Tatiana, a 350-pound Siberian tiger, attacked and seriously injured keeper Lori Komejan during a regular afternoon feeding.

The California Division of Occupation Safety and Health later ruled the zoo was responsible for that incident because of poor training and how the cages were set up.