The San Francisco Zoo's baby tiger underwent its first veterinary examination this week, and the Zoo was finally able to announce the cub's gender: it's a girl! The Sumatran tiger cub was born February 10 to parents Leanne and Larry, who sound much more like a suburban minivan couple than a pair of fearsome predators.

Will the cub, who made her public debut at the Zoo this weekend, receiver a similarly mundane girl-next-door name? Is she a Laura, Lisa, or perhaps a Samantha? (Every zoo needs one, amiright ladies?) Time, and wads of cash, will tell: the cub will be given a name by the highest bidder at a zoo fundraiser.

See more adorable photos of the cub over at ZooBorns, and remember: looking at photos of baby animals all day is good for what ails you.

In a jarring move sure to send local drag queens running for the glass pipe, the San Francisco Zoo plans to rename a new Siberian tiger "Martha." Which wouldn't be so criminal if its given name, "Shasta," weren't so rad. SF Appeal reports: "The 10-year-old, 295 lb white Siberian tiger, currently named 'Shasta,' has been renamed Martha, after SFZS Board member Barnaby Conrad III successfully bid $20K to name her in honor of his wife, Martha Sutherland."

While that's all well and good, and we tip our hat to Mrs. Sutherland and Edward Albee's masterpiece, the name Martha never gave us an earworm like this. Also, why pay loads of cash to renane an animal, especially after someone who's still alive? Zoo animals are not benches or plaques.

The Examiner reported on Thursday night that they obtained a never-before-released police interview with the Brothers Kulbir and Amritpal “Paul” Dhaliwal regarding the 2007 Siberian tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo, which resulted in the death of 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr.. This exclusive report, released just in time for the third anniversary of the incident, promised a "tasty treat" in its headline, which turned out to be the fact that the three victims were eating nachos at some point before Tatiana the tiger escaped her enclosure and attacked them.

This revelation hardly has much relevance, as the article states: "The taped interviews, however, still do not reveal what happened that day, when police had to shoot the tiger to death after the attack." Inspector Valerie Matthews, who headed the investigation, questioned the brothers about whether they threw any nachos at Tatiana, but the two denied doing anything to taunt the tiger, whom Paul Dhaliwal referred to in his progressive lingo as a "fool."

In essence, an Examiner commenter (according to an SFist commenter) had the same scoop three years ago.

"Pacing around like a tiger" by screaming_monkey.

Sad news, folks. On Tuesday, the San Francisco Zoo made the decision to euthanize (.pfd) their Amur tiger, Tony. "As the second oldest male Amur tiger in North America at 18 years of age, Tony reached a point where his quality of life was so diminished that euthanasia was the only humane option," the SF Zoo explains."Tony had been displaying more and more signs of decline in the last few months."

If you recall, Tony made headlines in March after getting stuck in the zoo's tiger grotto moat.

"Tony was having good days and bad days, but the bad days were becoming more frequent,” says Jacqueline Jencek, DVM, chief of veterinary services at the San Francisco Zoo. “We have done everything possible to make him comfortable, but it came to a point where we didn’t want to see him suffer.”

The much-missed tiger was born at the Reid Park Zoo in Tucson Arizona on March 21, 1992 and came to the San Francisco in June of 1993. "He was a favorite among Zoo Members and visitors and his pastimes included playing with enrichment, swimming in his pool or napping under a shaded tree."

SF Zoo's Tony the tiger is our kinda guy: a little bit on the geriatric side, a little clumsy, and a whole lot of adorable. Yesterday, according to BCN (via SF Appeal), Tony the tiger got stuck inside the tiger grotto moat. Which is sad since, according to the zoo, it is one of his favorite places to chill.

In order to move the 360-pound tiger, firefighters and zoo keepers anesthetized the big cat, then "crews moved Tony onto a board and lifted him out with a combination of people-power and the mechanical advantages of a pulley system." A "drugged and subdued" Tony was extracted from the area and "temporarily moved to the Lion House, where he will remain until the zoo figures out how to geriatrify' the outdoor exhibit."

San Francisco Zoo keepers, we should point out, "waited four days before requesting the assistance of the fire department to fetch Tony."

Tony, who is 18-years-old (90 in human years), is reportedly in good shape all things considered. Here are some images of the zoo crew and firefighters rescuing the big cat.

The victims (instigators?) of the Christmastime tiger mauling that left their (sort of) friend, Carlos Sousa Jr., dead, Kulbir and Amritpal Dhaliwal will receive a cool $900.000 from the San Francisco Zoo. According to SF Chronicle, this settlement by the zoo "resolves claims the brothers brought in U.S. District Court against the city, zoo and Sam Singer, a crisis public relations consultant the zoo hired after the attack." The brothers' lawsuit, among other claims, says that the SF Zoo failed at "keeping the 243-pound Siberian tiger named Tatiana in an enclosure that had walls 4 feet lower that what is recommended by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums." It also says that Kulbir Dhaliwal "wasn't attacked until after an employee refused to allow him into the safety of a zoo cafe." Which, yeah, regardless of what you think of the hoodlum brothers, that's kind of cold. Anyway, the Dhaliwal brothers will split the money, which is sure to buy all of the Grey Goose, Drakkar Noir, and criminal defense attorneys they will ever need.

Triggering Tatiana flashbacks today, we just got word that a white tiger fatally mauled a zoo keeper in a New Zealand yesterday, "just three months after the victim had saved another keeper from an attack by the same tiger." Happening at the Zion Wildlife Center in Whangarei, somewhere in Middle Earth, tiger handler Dalu Mncube succumbed to severe tearing of the abdomen. According to Times Online, "the male tiger attacked Mr Mncube with no warning, ripping at the helpless man's body as his colleague tried to fight him off with a stick and a fire extinguisher." San Francisco Zoo, if you recall, payed host to a fatal tiger attack on Christmas Day 2007 when Tatiana the tiger leaped from her grotto, attacking and killing Carlos Sousa Jr. Unlike Tatiana, however, who was shot and killed by SFPD officers, the white tiger wasn't put down. Update: We were wrong. The white tiger, one of only 120 white tigers in the world, was killed soon after the mauling.

With Tatiana's brutal attack nearing its one-year anniversary, the tiger's victim family sued the city of San Francisco and the San Francisco Zoo today for wrongful death. If you recall, the big cat escaped from her grotto last Christmas Day, attacking and killing 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. According to reports, Marilza and, Carlos' parents, claim that "the zoo and the city, as owners of Tatiana, the Siberian tiger that jumped over its enclosure and mauled Sousa and two of his friends, are liable for Sousa's death, according to their attorney Michael Cardoza." The bumbling Dhaliwal brothers, Carlos' "friends," were also injured when the Tatiana jumped out of her pit. Word is the brothers, while drunk and/or high, taunted the tiger, which prompted the attack. Allegedly.

Big-cat attack survivor Kulbir Dhaliwal, who saw his fame quotient skyrocket last year after Tatiana the tiger escape from her grotto and went on a fatal rampage, was handed ten days in jail after pleading guilty to public intoxication and resisting arrest. This incident happened before the Tatiana killed the Dhaliwal's "friend" Carlos Sousa, Jr. The Dhaliwal brothers, it seems, "were arrested Sept. 7, 2007, after they scuffled with San Jose police who tried to stop them after seeing them chase two men down the street." But wait, it gets better! Kulbir also "cursed at officers while kicking the security partition in a squad car, forcing police to pull him out and put him in leg restraints."