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Poetry Friday: The Greater Cats
This Friday's poem is dedicated to the memory of Tatiana, the Siberian tiger who was shot at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas, following her escape and deadly rampage.
The Greater Cats
The greater cats with golden eyes
Stare out between the bars.
Deserts are there, and different skies,
And night with different stars.
- V. Sackville-West
While I have sympathy for the human victim's family, I confess that my greater sorrow lies with Tatiana. Like any captive animal, she didn't ask to spend her life in a zoo. She had no say in the destruction of habitat in her motherland or the hunting of her species. There are 6.6 billion people on Earth, while only about 500 Siberian tigers survive in their natural habitat, with just a few hundred more scattered in zoos and refuges throughout the world. Tatiana was doing no more than what comes naturally to a tiger. Who's the true victim here?
As of this posting, Tatiana's means of escape remains a mystery. Conflicting reports indicate that onlookers, including the victims, may or may not have taunted the tiger and/or dangled their legs over the fence of her enclosure, not only provoking Tatiana but providing her with a means of escape. I'll be waiting for more definitive information, but in the meantime all I can do is grieve.
Catch the rest of today's Poetry Friday Round-Up at Check It Out!
I am saddened by this as well. The poem is a wonderful tribute to large cats.
I serendipitously found it in Splinters: A Book of Very Short Poems, edited by Michael Harrison (Oxford, 1988). I do think it's lovely. Thanks again for hosting Poetry Friday!
She is in my thoughts as well. She should not have been killed.
It's so frustrating. I know zoo animals' welfare - in America, at least - is infinitely better than it was even 100 years ago, but it seems like we ought to know how to better deal with wild creatures by now, whether it's by building enclosures securely, protecting them from visitors, what have you. :-(