Check this out - made me think of Tessa, and how anything's possible...

Teen Killed by Tiger During Photo Shoot

By The Associated Press

document.write(getElapsed("20050819T115116Z"));Fri Aug 19, 7:51 AMUPDATED 1 HOUR 33 MINUTES AGO

MOUND VALLEY, Kansas - A Siberian tiger attacked and killed a teenage girl who was posing for a picture at an animal sanctuary Thursday morning, authorities said.

The Labette County Sheriff's office identified the victim as Haley R. Hilderbrand, 17, of Altamont. A release said Hilderbrand was at the Lost Creek Animal Sanctuary posing for a photo with the 7-year-old tiger, which was being restrained by its handler, when the animal turned and attacked her.

Officers and handlers killed the animal.

Emergency personnel were not able to revive Hilderbrand, who was later pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators have sent the tiger's body to Kansas State University for dissection.

"This animal had been around people across the country and there's never been a problem," Sheriff William Blundell said in a telephone interview.

Keith Hilderbrand, Haley's uncle, said the family wasn't making any statements at this time. Doug Billingsly and his family opened the 80-acre sanctuary in 1994.

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That's HORRIBLE.

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Amie
Stylish Crochet Patterns
See me on this t.v. show!
"I'm not an actress. I just play one on t.v."

It is horrible. I read the statements from the handler, and he says it wasn't really a mauling as we'd picture one, more like a simple (big) bite. Either way, that scenario was possible every time someone sat with Tessa - we saw plenty of them while sitting at the restaurant next door to the pen, and I can't imagine seeing that happen...

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Yes.............................. I am sad to say this is 100% fact. This happened
about 140 miles south of my location. Very tragic event, no matter how
you look at it. You can take the tiger out of the jungle but you can't
take the jungle out of the tiger. Seems like Kansas is in the news alot
here lately, between BTK and this Kansas isn't that popular.

later,
millertime

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ARUBA....One Happy Island

Later,
millertime

It's hard to say what a tiger will do. My grandaughter was 4
when she came to Aruba. Because we stay at the Renaissance
Suites, she immediately saw Tess. She cried, until her father
took her to take a picture with her. Thank God that I did not
know when he took her. I think I would have had a heart attack.
Now that there is no Tess, she has her picture.
Last year they had birds there to take pictures with.
A little safer but you never know.
Rae

And now this:

Girl, 6, Killed by Tiger at Chinese Zoo

By Associated Press

document.write(getElapsed("20070223T055131Z"));Fri Feb 23, 0:51 AM
BEIJING - A six-year-old girl was bitten to death by a tiger at a south China zoo while posing for a picture with the animal, state media reported Friday.

The girl, identified only as Ruixin, was standing behind the tiger with her mother and four other relatives when it attacked at a zoo in Yunnan province on Thursday, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The local Chuncheng Evening News reported on its Web site that the tiger attacked the girl shortly after the flash went off on her uncle's camera. The tiger's paw shot out and grabbed Ruixin, pulling her head into its mouth, it said.

Five zoo staff beat the tiger with wood sticks and a bench until it released the girl after about one minute, it said. Ruixin's mother was also bitten on the hand while struggling to save her daughter.
The girl was taken to a local hospital but rescue efforts failed, Xinhua said.

It said the animal was one of six tigers that perform at a circus in the zoo. The photo service, has been suspended, it said.

Phones at the Yuantongshan Zoo in Yunnan's capital of Kunming, where the attack occurred, rang unanswered. It was not known if the tiger had been killed following the attack.

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