Police Blotter 16
Tigers and Orangutans
Police Officer Chris Hines was riding in an unmarked patrol car with another Police Officer when the call came in to attend to an apparent homicide at Stanley Park Zoo.
They got into the zoo grounds to see a distraught zoo curator wringing his hands in despair. The Police gave him a demanding and questioning look. He led them to the enclosure where it happened. The cage was cleared but the body remained. The cops also observed that there was far too much blood for one person.
The curator told the awaiting Police Officers the story of what happened.
Sweet 16. Orangutans and tigers are wonderful animals and they are cute as babies. With that rationale, an animal handler named Irving Stevens decided to put together two baby orangutans along with two baby tigers. This makes as much sense as putting together newborn giraffes and baby koala bears together just because they are cute as babies. This was on the 6 o' clock news when a news anchor sixteen years ago told the story of how infant tigers and infant orangutans wrapped in swaddling cloths as babies were nestled together for the camera lens to be shown to adoring masses all over the World.
Irving Stevens loved these animals and he kept track of their progress after their separation to different zoos.
He decided to reunite them for a 16 year reunion. That was not a good idea.
One night, there was a blackout at the zoo. Due to the pitch blackness, Irving Stevens did not see the sign tacked on the wall next to the cage:
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STANLEY PARK ZOO - TIGER DISPLAY - SAFETY RULES
Do not wear long sleeve clothing.
Do not make any sudden moves.
Do not feed the animals more often than needed.
Do not feed the animals less often than needed.
Do not be late for your shift.
Do not enter the grotto if the lights are not fully on.
Do not enter if under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.
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Over the zoo's closed circuit cameras, the zookeeper drank swigs from a flask of whisky and then the zookeeper had a few tokes from a marijuana cigarette. The zookeeper hunched intently over a desktop snorting lines of cocaine.
The curator said that he then actually walked outside and was about to say something to Irwing Stevens, having in mind to tell him to take the rest of the night off due to the blackout. As he approached the animal display, he was in time to see Irving Stevens enter the cage. Stevens was drunk and his arms flailed as he sought to regain his balance. That was when the one of the orangutans grabbed him, and feeling territorially threatened, proceeded to rip Irving Steven's arm from his socket. This triggered the hunting instinct of the tigers.
The tigers had viciously mauled and then eaten one of the orangutans. The other orangutan escaped, hiding in a corner high up in the cage.
The tigers then killed the poor zookeeper.
Afterwards, the tigers that killed the zookeeper were euthanized.
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