Feldman said his organization's 16.4-foot (5-meter) figure was based on the opinions of a group of experts.
Unsurprising Attack
There are well-publicized examples of tigers' phenomenal leaping ability.
In an incident at a national park in Nepal in 1974, an enraged Bengal tiger protecting her cubs mauled a researcher who had climbed into a tree. The tiger managed to climb onto a 15-foot-high (4.5-meter-high) limb.
"She just went right up and she didn't have much to hold onto. She clearly made that jump without much problem," said Melvin Sunquist, a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Florida and an expert on tigers.
Sunquist, who published an account of the Nepal attack in his book Tiger Moon: Tracking the Great Cats of Nepal, said he wasn't surprised by the news that a tiger had gotten out of its cage in San Francisco.
"I saw what a tigress can do," he said. "If they can get a purchase on anything, they can get up there."
Dale Miquelle, director of Wildlife Conservation Society's program in Russia, said he has seen tigers do many unusual things, such as climbing to the top of large trees when incensed—something tigers don't normally do.
"What animals normally do, and what they can do, are often very different things," Miquelle said.
"Unbelievable Aggression and Power"
The AZA said it has 216 accredited members with 258 tigers among them. Only five of them were born in the wild, and tigers in captivity generally cannot jump as high as those that are in top condition from hunting in the wild.
Louis Dorfman, an animal behaviorist and chairman of the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary in Texas, oversees 24 tigers at his sanctuary, including an 11-year-old Bengal-Siberian tiger that weighs about 550 pounds (260 kilograms) and extends about 11 feet (more than 3 meters) paw-to-paw when it stretches out like a housecat.
Dorfman said his tigers have never tried to scale their fences, but warned: "With provocation, they're capable of unbelievable aggression and power. These cats are a combination of strong instincts, strong emotion and no inhibition."
Zoo visitors running back and forth can resemble prey to a tiger. Throwing objects at a tiger or dangling something can also trigger its predatory instincts.
"First and foremost, people need to be educated. We need to respect them accordingly," said Jonathan Kraft, who runs Keepers of the Wild in Arizona, which has more than 20 tigers.
In the San Francisco escape, "I would bet my reputation that the animal was taunted."
NOTE: This story has been updated from the original posting to fix a typo in the third paragraph. The word "kilometer" was used when "meter" was meant.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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