At the Singapore Zoo, nearby where I live, a cleaner was mauled to death by White Tigers on Thursday, as I read in the newspapers.

Now, before you begin to make vows never to go to the Singapore zoo again, read this.

The man actually jumped into the tiger enclosure, which had a fence of 4Metre+ high, from a viewing platform. There is an additional fence, a moat, and a small overhang to stop visitors from falling into the tiger exhibit. He actually climebed over the fences, swam across the moat, and began agitating the tigers. The ttwo female White tigers ran forward towards him, while the male tiger stayed behind, as the worker covered his head with a bucket. One of the tigers fatally injured him. The police know what happened because some Australian guy captured the whole thing on tape.

At first the visitors thought it was some kind of show, until the man began screaming when the tigers injured him. Visitors tried scaring away the tigers and throwing items at them, but to no effect. Zookeepers, as well as two liscenced shooters arrived and lured the tigers into a smaller enclosure, but it was too late to save the worker.

The zoo staff said that they had seen the worker throwing things about and trying to agitate the crocidiles before going into the tiger exhibit.

Also, the zoo has declared the White tiger exhibit 'safe', and that adequate security has been installed.

Meanwhile, the two female tigers seemed stressed after the incident. according to the papers, they are now alert and seem to be afraid of something. They were scared because of the huge commotion raised by the visitors and zookeepers yesterday, with all the loud noises and stuff being thrown in their direction. The male tiger appears fine. The zoo has closed the exhibit temporarily as they investigate.

Personally, I think its neither the zoo's fault or the tiger's. The zoo has installed proper security measures to prevent the animals from escaping and visitors from falling into the enclosures.

I like the white tigers a lot. Tigers are an endangered species, with only a few thousand individuals left in the wild. White tigers occur when a tiger is born with a white coat instead of an orange one, and the chances of that happening are very low.

I hope that the zoo does not do anything to the tigers, as they were following their instincts, to defend themselves when attacked and when their territory is intruded.

What do you think?