It's unknown yet whether the tiger in San Francisco managed to jump out of the exhibit, or if a door was left open.
This is the first time a visitor has been killed by an animal at an accredited zoo in America. Still, there have been other close calls in Chicago and around the country, which is why local zoo officials are anxious to learn what went wrong out west.
At the Lincoln Park Zoo, Molly is the name one of the 300-pound Siberian tigers that roams the grounds. She is the same size and species as Tatiana, the tiger that pounced on tourists in San Francisco.
"These are wild animals. Everyone has to remember they are wild, not tame, not pets by any means," said Dr. Robyn Barbiers, Lincoln Park Zoo.
Dr. Barbiers is the vice president of collections at the Lincoln Park Zoo and said she is anxious to ease concerns of visitors.
"When I was standing there, I was wondering if he could jump from there over to here," said visitor Kathy Mantey.
The moat surrounding the big cat habitat at Lincoln Park Zoo is wider but not as a deep as the one at the zoo in San Francisco. Here, tigers can jump down into the moat as one did Wednesday, but it's not believed they can jump high enough or long enough to get out.
Still, the staff at the zoo runs drills every other month, just in case. Those drills were put to use in 2004 when zookeeper Nancy DeFiesta found herself face to face with not one, but two African lions when she was inside their habitat.
"He was right there at my face with his fur. He had my head. We were blood brothers," she said in a May 2005 interview. "I felt no fear, I felt no pain. I remember seeing her bite my shoulder and kinda having a conscious thought: This doesn't hurt."
An investigation revealed zookeepers mistakenly left a gate open, allowing the lions to reach deFiesta while she was working in their outdoor exhibit space.
While the investigation in San Francisco has yet to reach a conclusion, local zoo officials say for decades these habitats have proven themselves capable of containing animals.
"In my professional experience over the years, often it is human error, but certainly we are always learning new things about animals, and that's why we have animals here," said Barbiers.
A spokesperson for the Brookfield Zoo says their big cat exhibits feature a moat that is 28 feet deep. They, like operators at the Lincoln Park Zoo, said they feel there is no danger to the public.
DeFiesta says she still loves the big cats. She still works at the zoo, but no longer with carnivores.
