The Trash Dispatch: Tiger Attack at San Francisco Zoo could increase attendence

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Tiger Attack at San Francisco Zoo could increase attendence

Trash Dispatch: Incredible but true, the recent Tiger Attack at the San Francisco Zoo could increase Zoo attendance nation wide. The AP reports;

Previous incidents haven't hurt attendance elsewhere

"Attendance at the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans wasn't hurt in the weeks after a walkway collapsed and 10 people fell into a 400,000-gallon shark tank in 2002, spokeswoman Melissa Lee said."I would say certainly interest spiked," Lee said. "There's always a bit of morbid curiosity of people wanting to see where an accident took place." "

But also that;

In March 2004, a 340-pound gorilla named Jabari escaped the Dallas Zoo, went on a 40-minute rampage through a forest and attacked four people, including a toddler, before officers shot it to death. ...

... The zoo reopened the day after the attacks, with the gorilla habitat closed, and officials offered free admission to draw visitors back, Eckert said.

"We found that people were actually quite understanding," she said, citing a public opinion study conducted by the zoo shortly before the habitat reopened. "People, if anything, thought maybe we needed more money or something."

Except for the fact that Winter has beset most of the country, nation wide zoo attendance might well have increased, as merely speaking the word Zoo, invokes all kinds of Dreams of Wonder and Fantasy. "Why, I think I might just go to the Zoo myself. C-ya."

But seriously folks! Man-eating Tigers, Gorillas Tearing people in half, and Bears devouring their trainers, are all good draws for the zoo. And the longer the attacks are talked about in the news, the more it's on the peoples minds. Hence, attendance increases nation wide (when and where weather allows).

It is therefore the opinion of the Trash Dispatch, that we should "Fix the Tiger Pit, and make it Deeper. *But not too deep! After all, a visit to the Zoo just got a whole lot more Exciting!"

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