bizarre! i think this was the zoo that i went to when i was in buenos aires. i even went just to see the anteater!!!!
That's unusual, giant anteaters are usually placid. One of Singapore's keepers got slashed on the hands by an anteater last year but the wounds were not deep, didn't even require stitches. The anteater attacked because she was startled while sleeping. To read of such a vicious attack, its really bizarre as patrick put it!
I heard that a tapir attacked a zoo keeper. It bit her arm when the keeper went too close to the baby. Shocking!! I always thought that tapirs and Anteaters were nice. Anteaters are becoming more common in european zoos.
malay tapirs are shocking- happened at taronga years ago, whole story, basically keeper wasnt educated on species, and she had only worked with brazilians, malay tapir mauled her, she was seriously injured, completely her own fault
i read the argentine zookeeper is still alive (albeit in a critical condition) in a different report. was thhis older news perhaps?
i ahve been in with with wpz tapir, so kool, the older male there just sat as i patted him all over yea this story of taronags tapi aint well known, but malayans all over i belive are very vicious
Not the ones in Singapore! They're the sweetest. In fact Malayan tapirs are often the first large wild animal that student zoo volunteers get to interact with. The worst our tapirs have ever done was shower a poor volunteer with pee! Having said that, our female tapir is heavily pregnant now and the male does get a bit agitated when the keepers get close to her, but not to the extent of attacking. As with any animal, reading warning signs is important and knowing when to back off.
Aww baby tapirs are cute. I saw one at Edinburgh about 2 weeks ago. Will you post some pictures of the baby
when i did work experience at Taronga they told me that the tapirs were very dangerous and had even bitten off a keeper's arm/fingers? in the US. they were also classed as dangerous in the information i was given as part of the carnivores unit. it was very interesting experience, the keeper had trained the mother to allow them to put eye cream on her and then a fly net. i wasn't allowed to go near them and the keepers had minimal contact with them. Not my most favorite animals i got the job of cleaning out their inside pool and i filled a green trolly bin full of ****. i stunk the rest of the day.
i did work experience gosh.. two years ago around ANZAC day it was at taronga in the carnivores unit about six months after the snow leopard cubs were born and i got to go in with them!!!