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Zookeeper is injured in attack by sun bear
Post-Dispatch
02/05/2004
The bear in question is seen in its enclosure pacing back and forth.
(KAREN ELSHOUT/P-D)
The St. Louis Zoo seems to have bad luck with Malayan sun bears - about every half century.
As bears go, it seems hardly a threat. It weighs in at 150 pounds, the smallest species of bear, a lightweight among half-ton heavies like the grizzly and polar bear.
But for the second time in the Zoo's history, a Malayan sun bear on Thursday attacked and injured a zookeeper. This time the culprit was Rimba, a 6-year-old who was captured as a baby in Malaysia and brought to the Zoo four years ago.
Zookeeper Doug Weiss, 42, didn't know Rimba was home when he entered the bear's quarters about 8 a.m. to spruce up the place. A surprised Rimba pounced and bit him in the arms and legs. Weiss shoved him away and scrambled to safety.
Weiss, a full-time keeper since 1986, was treated at Barnes-Jewish Hospital for cuts and puncture wounds, said Zoo director William J. Boever, who praised his quick thinking in locking the bear back in its quarters. That might have prevented injury to another worker, he said.
Hearing radio news coverage of the bear attack Tuesday morning brought back sad memories for Eleanor Bisher, 80, of south St. Louis County.
On Jan. 20, 1953, a Malayan sun bear named Mike escaped through an unfastened door and scalped and mauled her father, Theodore C. "Ted" Nichols, a zookeeper for 31 years. He spent a month in the hospital and never spoke of the attack to anyone, she said.
Nichols died four months after the attack, at age 52. An inquest determined he died of natural causes.
"They said it was due to a heart condition and asthma," Bisher said Thursday. "To me it had something to do with that bear."
After the attack on Nichols, a keeper named Howard Hoffman distracted Mike by throwing his coat over the bear's head. The bear left Nichols alone and chased Hoffman, then wandered freely through the Zoo, which, like Thursday, was deserted because of cold.
Zoo workers herded Mike into the chimpanzee show arena and blocked both exits with cars and trucks. While one employee stood by with a rifle, other workers forced the bear onto the chimp stage.
Bright lights were turned on, and the bear retreated into the only dark place available - a crate.
Nichols was unlucky in that he was transferred to work in the bear pit late in his career. He had spent most of his Zoo career in charge of the bird cage.
"He loved those birds," Bisher recalled.
Attacks by zoo animals are rare for workers and rarer for visitors, said Jane Ballentine, spokeswoman for the 213-member American Zoo and Aquarium Association.
The St. Louis Zoo said it doesn't have a record of any animals ever hurting a guest. A search of newspaper archives turned up a story about Donald Carey, 13, who climbed a fence and was mauled by a polar bear on March 19, 1949. Some patrons complained last summer of being brushed back by penguins and puffins.
A few animals, though, have turned on their masters.
The most recent was when an African assassin bug bit entomologist George Winkler on April 3, 1991. Winkler's life was saved by co-workers and emergency workers after he suffered cardiac arrest during a violent reaction.
Three years before that, a 3,000-pound hippopotamus bit and stomped keeper Rick Coonrod in the elephant house when the hippo refused to leave her pool. Coonrod sustained a broken leg and a nasty bite.
After the ordeal, he asked for a transfer to the bird cage.
The most notable episode for injury to an animal was on June 15, 1978. A Grevy zebra attacked zoologist Bruce Read, who was trying to coax it into its stall. Workers shot the animal several times with a .38-caliber pistol. The zebra survived; Read had cuts and a leg injury.
The St. Louis Zoo is a national model for training of animal keepers, said Ballentine, but sometimes accidents still happen.
"Everyone who works within a zoo realizes they're working with potentially dangerous wild animals," she said.
The Zoo did not punish Rimba, whose name means "jungle" in Indonesian. The bear was acting as any bear would in the same situation, Boever said.
"He was probably as scared as his keeper," he said.
AND
http://www.polarbearsalive.org/facts6.php
Post-Dispatch
02/05/2004
The bear in question is seen in its enclosure pacing back and forth.
(KAREN ELSHOUT/P-D)
The St. Louis Zoo seems to have bad luck with Malayan sun bears - about every half century.
As bears go, it seems hardly a threat. It weighs in at 150 pounds, the smallest species of bear, a lightweight among half-ton heavies like the grizzly and polar bear.
But for the second time in the Zoo's history, a Malayan sun bear on Thursday attacked and injured a zookeeper. This time the culprit was Rimba, a 6-year-old who was captured as a baby in Malaysia and brought to the Zoo four years ago.
Zookeeper Doug Weiss, 42, didn't know Rimba was home when he entered the bear's quarters about 8 a.m. to spruce up the place. A surprised Rimba pounced and bit him in the arms and legs. Weiss shoved him away and scrambled to safety.
Weiss, a full-time keeper since 1986, was treated at Barnes-Jewish Hospital for cuts and puncture wounds, said Zoo director William J. Boever, who praised his quick thinking in locking the bear back in its quarters. That might have prevented injury to another worker, he said.
Hearing radio news coverage of the bear attack Tuesday morning brought back sad memories for Eleanor Bisher, 80, of south St. Louis County.
On Jan. 20, 1953, a Malayan sun bear named Mike escaped through an unfastened door and scalped and mauled her father, Theodore C. "Ted" Nichols, a zookeeper for 31 years. He spent a month in the hospital and never spoke of the attack to anyone, she said.
Nichols died four months after the attack, at age 52. An inquest determined he died of natural causes.
"They said it was due to a heart condition and asthma," Bisher said Thursday. "To me it had something to do with that bear."
After the attack on Nichols, a keeper named Howard Hoffman distracted Mike by throwing his coat over the bear's head. The bear left Nichols alone and chased Hoffman, then wandered freely through the Zoo, which, like Thursday, was deserted because of cold.
Zoo workers herded Mike into the chimpanzee show arena and blocked both exits with cars and trucks. While one employee stood by with a rifle, other workers forced the bear onto the chimp stage.
Bright lights were turned on, and the bear retreated into the only dark place available - a crate.
Nichols was unlucky in that he was transferred to work in the bear pit late in his career. He had spent most of his Zoo career in charge of the bird cage.
"He loved those birds," Bisher recalled.
Attacks by zoo animals are rare for workers and rarer for visitors, said Jane Ballentine, spokeswoman for the 213-member American Zoo and Aquarium Association.
The St. Louis Zoo said it doesn't have a record of any animals ever hurting a guest. A search of newspaper archives turned up a story about Donald Carey, 13, who climbed a fence and was mauled by a polar bear on March 19, 1949. Some patrons complained last summer of being brushed back by penguins and puffins.
A few animals, though, have turned on their masters.
The most recent was when an African assassin bug bit entomologist George Winkler on April 3, 1991. Winkler's life was saved by co-workers and emergency workers after he suffered cardiac arrest during a violent reaction.
Three years before that, a 3,000-pound hippopotamus bit and stomped keeper Rick Coonrod in the elephant house when the hippo refused to leave her pool. Coonrod sustained a broken leg and a nasty bite.
After the ordeal, he asked for a transfer to the bird cage.
The most notable episode for injury to an animal was on June 15, 1978. A Grevy zebra attacked zoologist Bruce Read, who was trying to coax it into its stall. Workers shot the animal several times with a .38-caliber pistol. The zebra survived; Read had cuts and a leg injury.
The St. Louis Zoo is a national model for training of animal keepers, said Ballentine, but sometimes accidents still happen.
"Everyone who works within a zoo realizes they're working with potentially dangerous wild animals," she said.
The Zoo did not punish Rimba, whose name means "jungle" in Indonesian. The bear was acting as any bear would in the same situation, Boever said.
"He was probably as scared as his keeper," he said.
AND
http://www.polarbearsalive.org/facts6.php
And save on our taxes, too:footinmou
