I went to Marine World last year and watched a tiger show. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the same thrill it held when I was younger. The entire time, I kept watching the trainers in the tigers’ habitat and wondering why they weren’t completely terrified. Clearly, the rational thought is that the tigers are in charge, right? No need to do the math on whose teeth are sharper and longer. But, to my shock, the tigers performed as they were supposed to and the crowd clapped at the end. I, on the other hand, wiped my sweaty brow and hightailed it outta there.

I was reminded of my tiger paranoia three days ago and have been thinking about it since. I’m here, visiting California, and a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo escaped from its pen on Christmas Day and killed a guy. The paper claims that the height of the wall surrounding the tigers’ pen is four feet shy of the minimum required by the AZA. Police shot and killed the tiger as it was lunging for its next victim.

Now, I realize that tragedies like this are few and far between, but still. What good do statistics do you if you’re the one in a bazillion it happens to? It makes me wonder how much credibility to give my paranoia when I’m at places like Marine World or *gulp* the zoo. I’ve already given up camping, am I supposed to avoid any exhibit that attempts to cage wild animals as well? Need I bring up Siegfried and Roy?

At what point do you chuck the paranoia and just go for it?