“White tigers maul man to death in Singapore Zoo”, “ Cleaner killed by White Tigers,” – These were some of the headlines dominating the papers since November 13, after Mr Nordin Bin Montong, 32, leapt into the den of three white tigers, and came to a fatal end under those powerful feline paws.

The news sent the online community into a frenzy, as everyone struggled to add their two cents worth regarding the tragic incident. A question that was brought up time and time again was this: Would the white tigers be put down?

An Asiaone forum member, ‘Charmiet’ commented, “It’s not the tigers fault at all! Why should they be shot for doing something that is natural to them.”

Personally, I wonder, why the need to even question the white tigers’ fate in the first place?

It is a sad reality that whenever a captive animal attacks Man, its life will be placed in limbo. Would the animal be allowed to live? Why or why not?

To me it is a given that these captive animals should never be put down in any cases of attack,  unless it was absolutely crucial to do so- in order to save a human’s life or the animal itself was critically injured.

Many of us have forgotten that very often, during such animal attacks, it is seldom the creatures themselves who should be blamed. These animals were merely reacting instinctively to being provoked or agitated beforehand, either purposely or unknowingly by humans.

The ugly truth of it is that although Man has chosen to remove these wild creatures from their natural homes, we seem to be incapable of treating the animals with the respect they deserve.

Image taken from San Francisco Chronicle

In December 2007, a tiger named Tatiana escaped in San Francisco Zoo, injuring two brothers and killing their friend. It was later reported that the trio had allegedly taunted Tatiana, provoking both the escape and fierce attack.

Even if Tatiana did attack without provocation, how could it be fair to punish the beast for behaving exactly as what it is – an animal.

Another incident happened back in 2003, when Montecore the tiger seemingly attacked Roy Horn without reason during a Siegfried and Roy Las Vegas show. This attack could have been avoided if Montecore was prowling the lush rainforests where he belonged, instead of performing on stage like he was. Attacking is part of a big cat’s nature; doing tricks for our entertainment is not.

Advocates of putting such animals down will argue that the beasts may develop a liking for human blood after their first taste, prompting subsequent attacks, or as Animal Planet host Jeff Corwin once commented in an interview, “In many situations, the animal is destroyed because it has connected in a negative way and a dangerous way to human beings, and the truth is there’s an increased opportunity for this animal to become even more dangerous.”

However, I wonder how strong these arguments are to justify taking away a life. Surely an animal’s life is a precious life too? Could we use mere presumptions of further attacks to explain the need for putting the beasts down?

Animals have instincts and reactions far different from humans, and we have to remember that it was we who have imprisoned these beasts in the first place- forcing them into such unnatural situations for our selfish interests- and in the process, giving them ample opportunities to turn onto humans.

There is no accurate way to predict what an animal would do next, but putting down the ‘guilty’ beast is not a way to nip the problem in the bud.

Perhaps it is time that we stop punishing these animals for acting in accordance to their nature, and start pondering on how humans instead could make changes to ourselves, and prevent similar tragic attacks from happening in the future.