While writing our zoo mystery, Death Roll, we did a lot of research on animals escaping from zoo enclosures. Some are comical, but some end in tragedy, usually with the animal’s death.Yesterday an endangered Amur (Siberian) tiger escaped its enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo. The tiger killed a young man and injured two others before police shot and killed her. Our sympathies go out to everyone involved in this tragedy.

Sadly, the press finds it necessary to sensationalize these sad events, digging into their archives for similar stories, and digging up so-called experts who have no more knowledge of what happened than the reporters. When the truth becomes less interesting than the fiction, they'll quickly move on to the next story without correcting any of the misconceptions they've created.

If the news is not enough entertainment for you, read the comments posted to CNN.com. One reader suggested the tiger should have been put down last year after it bit an animal keeper. Once an animal tastes human blood, he warned, it becomes a maneater. Guess I should have paid more attention to those old Tarzan reruns. Others use this tragedy as proof that zoos are bad places. Animals deserve to live free in their natural environment. I couldn't agree more. In a perfect world, wouldn’t that be fantastic? The sad truth is the reason most animals are on the brink of extinction is loss of habitat. As we said in "Death Roll", zoos are often a species last chance for survial.

Fox 9 News reported there’s some evidence the tiger may have been teased and taunted before her escape. A couple of years ago at an accredited zoo in the Midwest, a young man thought it was funny to tease a tiger. He had been spotted doing this on previous visits and had been warned by staff. On this occasion the tiger had a warning of his own. In an unusual feat of agility and strength, the tiger scaled the fence to within a few feet of the barbed wire and electrically charged barrier at the top. Staff reacted immediately. The young man (or idiot, if you'd prefer)was marched off zoo grounds, never to be allowed inside the zoo again. The tiger was put in holding until another zoo could be found to house him. The zoo was taking no chances.

Animals will always escape from enclosures. AZA accredited zoos are consistently concerned for the safety of their animals, the employees that care for them and the millions of visitors who visit each year. Until this recent attack, no visitor to an AZA accredited zoo has died due to an animal escaping it’s enclosure.