Tatiana was a beautiful cat who made the most of her rather shabby and cramped quarters in the zoo's antiquated big cat house. It was always a joy to see her and her consort and I am really sorry for the loss. I am, pending investigation of course, not particularly sorry for the people who she attacked. Most of us who regularly go to zoos have seen people like them, the ones who enjoy getting the gorillas to pound on their chests and set the chimps hooting. I have resolved to report this sort of abuse to zoo staff in the future. Maybe it will save another animal.

The building consensus around here seems to be the SF Zoo Director will probably be the one to take the blame for the incident. The story is that he ignored various problems, didn't listen to the employees and spent zoo funds on projects that created luxurious habitats for some animals while neglecting others, including the big cats. Indeed some of the most visible recent improvements at the zoo are not animal habitats but a new parking lot, a new entrance, a new store, a new zoo cafe and a new train ride. Meanwhile the zoo was understaffed and security, particularly after hours, was inadequate. The man simply wasn't doing his job.

Or was he? This is what Wonks Anonymous thinks about the San Francisco Tiger Tragedy. Quite some time ago San Francisco and other California cities suffered a large, permanent loss of tax revenue when Proposition 13, an initiative cutting property taxes, was passed by voters. Among other things San Francisco was unable to support its zoo and operations were turned over to the SF Zoological Society which had formerly served as an auxiliary fund raising group. To quote the Chronicle: "A complex lease and management agreement with San Francisco and the Zoological Society determines how the zoo operates. The city owns the animals and land while the private nonprofit operates and manages everything." For some time the first priority of this nonprofit has been to keep the zoo open by patching together a stream of private funding.

By all accounts our zoo director has been no slouch in the fund raising department. He has increased the number of events that draw crowds of paying visitors to the zoo, secured corporate funding for habitat improvements for the grizzly bears, and, with the parking lot/entrance/store/cafe, channeled thousands more paying customers past opportunities to spend and thereby support the zoo. He may have been deficient in other areas but he could bring in the bucks. He seems to have been reordering the zoo and its priorities around this goal.

And isn't this just what the advocates of privatization promised us in the 1980's and continue to promise us now? A leaner, more responsive, more market driven public sector? Too bad we forgot about animal care and visitor safety on our way to the glorious future.