Sep 28, 2009 10:54 am US/Pacific
Man Climbs Into Bear Exhibit At SF Zoo
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
-
-
Bears inside SF Zoo's Grizzly Gulch
CBS
A man managed to climb inside a grizzly bear exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo on Saturday evening, but he was rescued without injury, officials said.
The man, indentified by authorities on Sunday as 21-year-old Kenneth Herron, had scaled a wall and was crouching behind some bushes inside the grizzly bear enclosure about 5 p.m. Saturday.
Zoo spokeswoman Gwendolyn Tornate indicated that grizzlies were still inside the exhibit -- which is surrounded by glass walls and electric fencing -- when the man entered it.
When zookeepers arrived, they found Herron had somehow made his way into the enclosure that is surrounded by 15-foot walls on three sides, and a 13- to 14-foot moat with a 4-foot high barrier on the fourth side and was sitting just feet away from the bears, San Francisco fire Lt. Mindy Talmadge said.
"One bear started to go after him full-stride. He just sat there," Talmadge said. The bear "did get close enough to sniff him and put his paw on him," San Francisco police Sgt. Wilfred Williams added.
A shooting team then fired a warning shot to keep the bears at bay and staffers secured the bears inside their dens without incident, Tornate said.
She indicated that when paramedics reached Herron, he was unresponsive and not cooperative -- but was conscious and had no apparent injuries.
Herron, described by authorities as a transient, was taken into police custody and then to San Francisco General Hospital where he was placed under psychiatric evaluation.
Herron faces charges of misdemeanor trespassing and harassing an animal in captivity. He has outstanding prior warrants for making threats and carrying a concealed weapon, police said.
Officials said they still don't know why Herron climbed into the bears' enclosure.
"It would be pure speculation on my part as to why he went in the bear enclosure," said Bob Jenkins, vice president for the zoo's Institutional Advancement. "It takes a very concerted effort to get into the facility. You have to be very determined to do that."
Fortunately, Herron "froze," which helped keep the bears calm, Jenkins said. "The bears approached him very cautiously. They sniffed his feet."
On Christmas Day 2007, a 17-year-old boy was killed at the zoo by a Siberian tiger that escaped its enclosure.
Mayor Gavin Newsom's spokesman Nathan Ballard said that Saturday's response showed that safety procedures implemented after the 2007 incident are working.
The two bears in the grizzly enclosure on Saturday evening were sisters and about 5 or 6 years old, according to Jenkins. The zoo rescued them in 2005 when they were going to be euthanized for raiding ranchers' barns in Montana.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)
Click to enlarge
Post Office Changes Santa's Mail Operation 33 mins ago 
Stumble It!
Comments