Tigers would have been shot if...

I will be very upset if those white tigers are hurt...

Cleaner Nordin Montong's fatal mauling by two white tigers at the Singapore Zoo raised questions about safety. Yesterday, Mr Biswajit Guha, the zoo's assisant director of zoology, and Ms Isabel Cheng, the director of sales, marketing and communications of Wildlife Reserves Singapore, addressed such concerns.

Q: Could the Zoo's licensed shooters have arrived sooner?

Mr Biswajit Guha: The shooters' weapons are stored in an armoury, and the shooters have to get the weapons and then go to the scene (the location of the armoury could not be disclosed for security reasons).

After collecting their weapons, the shooters arrived at the white tiger exhibit within five minutes.

But the tigers were already back in their dens by the time the shooters arrived.

If the tigers could not be lured back to their dens by then, the shooters would have shot and killed the animals.

Q: How far is the armoury from the white tiger enclosure?

Mr Guha: It is slightly less than 800m away. It can be reached within three minutes by running or buggy.

Q: What items are placed in the armoury?

Mr Guha: (Each armoury) contains our weapons and live rounds. The weapons are double-barrelled shotguns and 0.375calibre rifles.

Q: How many licensed shooters does the Zoo have and where are they positioned?

Mr Guha: We have a pool of 16licensed shooters between the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari.

As a standard operating procedure (SOP), upon collection of their arms, the designated officers will go to the front of the exhibit where the incident is takingplace.

Q: How many shooters were on duty and where were they positioned?

Mr Guha: At this time, we are not able to check how many out of our 16 licensed shooters were working on Nov 13. However, on any working day, a minimum of four licensed shooters are on duty.

On Nov 13, two licensed shooters were activated to collect their weapons. They then positioned themselves at the front of the white tiger exhibit.

Q: Witnesses said that they saw the keepers mainly throwing umbrellas and using a long pole to distract the tigers on Thursday. Could they have been better equipped?

Mr Guha: The keepers also used items from a nearby safety box to distract the tigers. All of the items and more were used to distract the tigets.

These included fire extinguishers, extensible poles, cymbals, loud hailers and clay balls.

Q: Can you tell us your standard operating procedures for handling the various dangerous animals, should a similar incident occur?

Mr Guha: These are confidential internal documents which we are unable to share with external parties.

Q: What happens to the tigers now?

Mr Guha: They are still being looked after and maintained by the Zoo. We have no plans to put them down.

The keepers have been told to keep an eye on them and we want to give them time to recover from the event.

But we are not having extra security measures for the tigers. We think that the white tiger exhibit should be back in action within less than a week.

The tigers are not dangerous to humans. They would not attack humans unless they were taunted, or they thought the humans were prey

Q: Did Mr Nordin have any history of mental illness?

Mr Guha: As far as we know, he was all right when he reported for work on Thursday morning. He was hardworking and there was no indication that he had any mental problems when he was working in the Zoo.

Q: Will the Zoo be reviewing the safety features in the white tiger exhibit and its other dangerous animal enclosures?

Mr Guha: We are looking into the possibility of installing alarm buttons, like those activated by pressing or breaking a glass, near the enclosures so that visitors and/or keepers can raise an alarm more quickly if something happens at these places.

We will increase the frequency of patrols by our keepers and ground staff, especially during lunch time.

The Zoo has 50 keepers and 30 ground staff walking or cycling around its premises daily.

Ms Cheng: The white tiger exhibit is very safe. We have safety features to guard against someone who accidentally falls in the enclosure, like a planter bed below the railing and cable wires that the person can roll onto to prevent him falling into the moat.

In addition, fences on the left and right wings of the exhibit measure 8.5m, inclusive of the water moat wall. The exhibit is permanently surrounded by a water moat 10m wide from the shore to the overhang at the visitors' bridge, and 8.5m from the rock platform to the overhang at the visitors' bridge.

At its deepest, the water is 1.75m deep in the moat.

These enclosure measurements conform to international safety guidelines imposed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Our lion and polar bear exhibits are also well-protected. But we cannot completely secure against someone who intentionally enters the enclosure.

The incident on Thursday was such a case.