Kerre Woodham: They are wild animals

The death of Zion Wildlife Park keeper, Dalu Mncube, is a tragedy but so, too, is the killing of Abu the rare royal white tiger who mauled Mncube to death this week.

I'm sure Mncube's colleagues thought they were doing their best to save him. The Whangarei area police commander has gone so far as to say they behaved bravely in trying to rescue the mortally wounded keeper.

They tried to frighten Abu away with a fire extinguisher and sticks before resorting to firepower but surely an attack of this sort is an occupational hazard you must accept when you choose to work with wild animals.

Even your average domestic moggie can turn feral in a heartbeat if it's frightened, enraged or just feels like taking a swipe.

Abu may have been born and bred in captivity but if your DNA tells you you're a wild animal, there's no arguing with nature. For a tiger to be punished for behaving like a wild tiger seems inhumane.

It is also ecologically unsafe. Apparently there are only 120 royal white tigers left in the world and they are considered extinct in the wild.

Losing one will be a blow for zoo communities the world over. The attack also underscores the arrogance of humans who believe their superior intuitive understanding of wild animals can tame them.

Probably the most famous tiger attack happened on stage in front of a packed house in Las Vegas. In 2003, a 7-year-old white tiger attacked and critically injured one half of the Siegfried and Roy entertainment duo who were institutions on the Strip.

The couple were performing their act, one that combined magic and tiger stunts, for more than 30 years and their tigers roamed free in the grounds of their splendidly tacky estate.

Montecore, the tiger, had been performing on stage since he was six months old. But when a tiger has had enough, he's had enough and after refusing to lie down for his handler, he then dragged Roy Horn off stage in his jaws and sank his fangs into Horn's neck, causing massive blood loss and a couple of strokes that have left Horn brain-damaged and partially paralysed.

Montecore was quarantined by animal welfare officials but Siegfried and Roy refused to allow him to be destroyed.

In fact, this year, all three were reunited on stage - Siegfried, a frail and limping Roy and Montecore the tiger, as part of a lavish fundraiser. So a happy-ish ending there.

Although we anthropomorphise animals and believe that if we're kind and decent enough, they will truly love and understand us, we're different creatures.

Remember the case in the United States of Travis the chimp from earlier this year? The 15-year-old monkey was able to dress himself, drive himself and apparently had better table manners than most humans.

But in February, he attacked a family friend, leaving her with horrific facial injuries.

He was killed by police who tried to rescue the woman.

Friends of the family were left shaking their heads, lamenting that Travis was part of the family and they never dreamed in their wildest imaginings he would act in such a manner.

They can't be very imaginative. There are plenty of recorded instances of good animals going bad - Travis was just the latest.

There seems to be a widespread human desire to connect with wild animals - perhaps we see them as being more pure and less duplicitous than us.

One of the most popular You Tube videos at present is the footage of two young men visiting a wildlife park in Kenya to check on the welfare of a young lion called Christian who they'd bought from Harrods in the 60s.

They were able to keep him for the first six months in their London flat - it was the swinging 60s after all - but they had the intelligence to realise that they couldn't keep a lion for a pet.

So they arranged for Christian to be sent to a wildlife sanctuary in Africa.

The images of Christian recognising his two mates will bring a tear to the most cynical of eyes but that sort of connection is a rare, wonderful and transient thing.

After that visit, the two young men never saw Christian again - and they were sensible enough to be happy about that.

It's good to read that MAF will not be euthanasing any of the lions and tigers left at the Zion Park and hopefully homes can be found for these animals in sanctuaries where they'll be treated as wild animals - not privileged pets.

* www.kerrewoodham.com