Angry zoo people and scary tigers-oh my

[Big]

So I came upon my first rude person today while at the zoo (York's Wild Animal Kingdom in Maine). I was walking near the Tiger cage and I noticed the Siberian Tiger was up and moving around very quickly compared to when I saw him earlier. As soon as I walked by the corner of the cage, the tiger ran directly at me, jumped about 5 feet in the air, grabbed onto the chain link fence with his claws on all four paws and then pushed off and landed on the ground!!!! All about 10 feet from me... ale: Unfortunately, I never got a shot of it because I was in the stance to run for my life... I then walked further down and went to get a picture of him and an older woman with kids told her kids to move (thinking they were in the way of me shooting. I kindly replied, "Oh no, don't worry no big deal" She then says "thanks for scaring the Tiger off, if it wasn't for your flash, you wouldn't have scared him!" I basically told her off and said I didn't even have my camera on at the time he jumped and then I walked away. Some people are just so rude. Looking back on it, I think it's kinda funny because I had nothing to do with it. (there were lots of people there before me to aggravate him).

 

[Goontz]

Sounds like quite the moment! Too bad you didn't get any shots of it, but I can't say that I would have in that situation either

I can't help but feel sorry for people like that who are so miserable they take it out on other people. Oh well, you can only hope your brushing her off made her reconsider her words.

 

[iflynething]

I think an ugly lady scared her away. Animals aren't scared of people at a zoo. They are used to them. Most sudden moves don't even scare them away. She is full of poo

~Michael~

 

[photo28]

I hate it when people are like that!

Cool experience!

 

[itznfb]

I never got a shot of it because I was in the stance to run for my life...

lol.

i actually rarely run into rude people at the zoo. i usually get people apologizing for getting in my way even when i'm just reviewing shots. they are usually interested in what i'm doing and ask lots of questions. which is equally annoying.

 

[Big]

I was irritated as it was trying to shoot through the fences. I wasn't expecting that since it was my first time to a zoo. I was hoping for some better shots. I did manage to get some by standing further back with my telephoto, zooming in all the way which made the chain link fence almost disappear. I'll post em in a few minutes in the "wildlife" section. I feel so cheap going to a zoo to get pictures. It's like taking candy from a baby, everything is there for you without you having the experience of seeing it in it's natural habitat.

 

[Goontz]

I went to the local zoo earlier this month. It's not great and I didn't really expect any spectacular shots, knowing there would be lots of people as well as cages/glass, but I still had fun and I guess it can be considered decent practice nonetheless.

 

[Big]

Oh yea, I definitely considered it great practice. Composition and learning how to shoot through the fencing. I still had a great day with the family.

 

[itznfb]

Zoo photography is pretty difficult actually and great practice for all around shooting. Just about every obstacle you have to face can be found at the Zoo. From terrible lighting (too much / too little) to reflections, fast movement in low light, quick reaction times, crowds, rain, distance.... The tough part is trying to make the animal look like it's in it's natural habitat through the composition of the shot while dealing with all those other distractions/obstacles.

Check out some of my Zoo shots http://mgroberts.deviantart.com
I'm still working on the natural habitat thing. I always end up with a fence or something in the shot.

 

[Big]

I think I did alright for not expecting what I was hit with. These are only a few of what I shot. Obviously a lot of crappy ones I'm not going to post...
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/nature-wildlife/175585-first-zoo-visit.html

 

[sabbath999]

I was at the Knoxville TN zoo, and they have a white bengal tiger. Nearby there is a sign that says "don't use a flash, the tiger doesn't like flashes"...

This is actually pretty common, I have seen it elsewhere as well.

At Knoxville, the tiger was behind a chain link fence, so a flash would be pointless anyway, and I had already had my flash turned off. All you get when shooting through a chain link fence with a flash is a very bright chain link fence.

I was using a 70-200 VR with an SB-600 sitting on top, and I walked over to the fence to see what I could see. The kitty saw me coming near it, and snarled at me when I raised my camera. It knew what the camera was, and could see the flash on it... It didn't know, of course, that the flash was off. I took one shot, and realized that I had to open up my aperture some because I was getting too much of the fence in it when all the sudden the cat jumped up, and ran as hard as it could, leaped, bounced off the fence and screamed at me from about 3 feet away. It then simply flicked its tail and trotted off.

I didn't get a good picture out of the deal, but at least it was interesting...

Here is a bad picture I took of it after it plopped back down (the sun is all wrong).

 

[Big]

Hey Hey!!! ^^^^^ We have something in common!!! Nearly getting attacked by tigers hahaha!

 

[Garbz]

Do unto others.....

I'm a really nice guy for the most part but I definitely tell people to go [insert crude phrase of choice] when they are rude.

 

[Dagwood56]

Do unto others.....

I'm a really nice guy for the most part but I definitely tell people to go [insert crude phrase of choice] when they are rude.

:thumbup:


sabbath999 : ...It then simply flicked its tail and trotted off.

You're quite lucky all he did was flick his tail. There is a Tiger at a small zoo in Cape May NJ that has a reputation for spraying people through the fence when he flicks his tail.

 

[JerryPH]

You're quite lucky all he did was flick his tail. There is a Tiger at a small zoo in Cape May NJ that has a reputation for spraying people through the fence when he flicks his tail.

That tiger needs to join the fire brigade in Cape May... lol!