A tiger at the San Francisco Zoo escaped from its enclosure and attacked three patrons before it was shot and killed.

The San Francisco Zoo and Gardens is a 100-acre (40 ha) zoo located on the West Side of San Francisco, in the southwestern corner of the city between Lake Merced and the Pacific Ocean along the Great Highway. The zoo's main entrance is to the west, on the ocean side. The SF Zoo is owned by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, and managed by the San Francisco Zoological Society, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. under a public-private partnership since 1993, receives $4.2 million annually from the city.

Two tiger attacks occurred at the San Francisco Zoo, in 2006 and 2007, both involving a female Siberian tiger named Tatiana. In the first incident, a zookeeper was bitten on the arm during a public feeding. In the second incident, one person was killed and two others were injured before police shot and killed Tatiana on the scene.