More on San Fran Tiger

[RedGlitter]

San Francisco Journal

Back at the Zoo, With Sadness for All Casualties



January 4, 2008

San Francisco Journal

Back at the Zoo, With Sadness for All Casualties

By JESSE McKINLEY

SAN FRANCISCO — The giraffes were aloof, the penguins were show-offs and the rhinoceros refused to wake up. But among the human visitors on Thursday at the San Francisco Zoo — as it reopened a little over a week after a tiger escaped and mauled three visitors, killing one — a lingering and conflicted sadness seemed to be a common emotion.

And while lawyers and spokesmen for the zoo and the victims parried in the news media, visitors expressed sympathies that were equally divided between the three victims and the tiger, a 4-year-old female Siberian named Tatiana, who was shot and killed by the police.

“This whole thing has just been horrible, said Ilona Montoya of San Bruno, celebrating her 60th birthday at the zoo. “It’s horrible, that poor tiger. I mean, I feel for the poor kid who got killed, but he had to do something to that tiger to get her that angry.

The zoo’s reopening came as questions continued about what caused the Dec. 25 attack that killed Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, and seriously injured Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and his brother, Kulbir, 23.

Sgt. Steve Mannina said that the San Francisco police had spoken to a witness, Jennifer Miller, but he would not describe Ms. Miller’s account of the attack. Ms. Miller, who could not be reached for comment, was quoted Thursday in The San Francisco Chronicle as saying that she saw two victims taunt the lions a short time before the tiger leapt out of its open-air grotto, which was surrounded by a moat and a concrete wall about 12 and a half feet tall.

Two inspectors are working on the case, Sergeant Mannina said, but with no apparent deadline for their investigation.

“It will be done when it’s done, he said.

Sergeant Mannina said that the police found a bottle of vodka in the Dhaliwals’ car at the zoo after the attack. He would not say if it had been opened.

Mark J. Geragos, a lawyer hired by the Dhaliwal family, has strongly denied any suggestion that his clients did anything to provoke the attack. He said he had no comment on the police’s reporting that they had found alcohol in his clients’ car.

Mr. Geragos said he was considering whether to file a civil suit against the zoo on the brothers’ behalf. He called Ms. Miller’s account “demonstrably false.

“It clearly does not correspond with what the police know, Mr. Geragos said.

For their part, zoo officials said they also believed that the big cat was goaded into attacking but that they would wait for the verdict from the police.

“Obviously there’s a strong feeling the animal had to be provoked, said a zoo spokeswoman, Lora LaMarca. “We’ve had big cats in those exhibits for more than 40 years, and this is the only time one has gotten out and mauled someone.

Still, even as the zoo tried to return to its normal daily activities, signs of the tiger attack were everywhere. Zoo officials had posted fresh notices throughout that warned visitors against a variety of provocations, like tapping on glass, making excessive noise and teasing. Security guards and baby strollers were in almost equal numbers throughout much of the zoo.

And while the monkeys and marsupials were lonely on a rainy, blustery afternoon, the Lion House, where the big cats reside, drew a steady stream of the curious.

Maria Lubamersky, a 40-year-old teacher from San Rafael, brought her three boys — 5-year-old twins and a 3-year-old — and a friend’s 5-year-old daughter to the edge of the lion and tiger den to take a look. She said the children were aware that a tiger had attacked nearby, though she had not told them someone had died.

Ms. Lubamersky said the visit was a good way to teach them to respect animals, especially big ones. “They couldn’t believe a tiger could jump that wall, she said. “Now they do.

Her friend’s daughter, Rachel Reher, moved toward the protective glass to take a peek. “There’s nothing in there, Rachel said, amazed. And then it was on to the penguins.

The zoo has locked its big cats inside the Lion House while crews build a glass extension atop the wall around the outside grotto. Before the attack, visitors had a barrier-free view of the animals on one side, although from behind a 33-foot-wide moat topped by the concrete wall, which turned out to be four feet shorter than the height for big cat enclosures recommended by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Zoo officials said the extension would raise the wall to 19 feet and would likely take a month to construct.

At the zoo’s front gate, visitors have fashioned a small memorial to Tatiana, with flowers, stuffed animals and a golden scarf that reads “RIP Tati. Two animal rights groups also planned a vigil for the tiger and Mr. Sousa, to commemorate “the two young victims who died on Christmas Day at the San Francisco Zoo.

Brian Glover, 46, of San Francisco, who said he visited regularly with his 18-month old son, Atom, said he had come to the reopening to support the zoo. But he acknowledged that the mauling had left the institution with work to do.

“I expect this is a pretty good wake-up call for them, to check things out, Mr. Glover said.

Attached files

[lemon_and_mint]

that poor tiger.

Animals do as their instincts tell them.

slightly offtopic, i got attacked by a giraffe at a zoo once, i guess nowadays parents would sue, by my family thought it was amusing.

i vaguely remember this but my family talks about it.

the giraffe was in an enclosure with a fence up to its head height, so people walking would be below the height of the fence.

But my uncle was carrying me on his shoulders, so i actually came up to above the height of the enclosure fence.I was eating some popcorn, or other snack, from a packet as we walked round.

The giraffe decided he wanted some of that so he reached over the enclosure and took the packet.Apparently he did it really gently.

I was not hurt, just startled.

I would hate to hear what people would do to a giraffe which did that nowadays.

[LilacDragon]

[Mark J. Geragos, a lawyer hired by the Dhaliwal family, has strongly denied any suggestion that his clients did anything to provoke the attack. He said he had no comment on the police’s reporting that they had found alcohol in his clients’ car.

Mr. Geragos said he was considering whether to file a civil suit against the zoo on the brothers’ behalf. He called Ms. Miller’s account “demonstrably false.




Of course the family's lawyer denies that the tiger was provoked or that the boys had been drinking! If they were at fault, there goes that big money lawsuit!

As for the witness being "demonstably false" - well, I suppose he was there. Or maybe he thinks his oh, so innocent clients wouldn't dream of lying.

[valerie]

And I have to ask, why didn't Ms. Miller TELL SOMEBODY what she saw?

Our local paper said she left because she didn't want her children

seeing what those guys were doing. Okay, but in my book that's not

enough!



:-5



At least some zoo employees knew big cats had gotten out of that

exhibit before, too. Specifically, a tiger named Mike in the 1960's!!



:-5:-5

[RedGlitter]

Here's the latest:

San Francisco Authorities Seek to Inspect Tiger Attack Victims' Cell Phones

Saturday , January 05, 2008





SAN FRANCISCO —

The city attorney sought permission to inspect the car and cell phones belonging to the two brothers who survived tiger attacks at the San Francisco Zoo, but the victims are balking, the attorney said. Deputy City Attorney James Hannawalt sent a letter Friday to the brothers' lawyer, Mark Geragos, asking him to make sure they preserve any photographs or call logs that were on the phones before the Dec. 25 mauling that claimed the life of 17-year-old Carlos Sousa.

• Click here for photos.

San Francisco police have the phones, but the brothers, Kulbir and Paul Dhaliwal, have refused to authorize investigators to examine the contents, according to Hannawalt.

"Your clients refused to cooperate with this request; consequently, no one has yet examined this potentially critical evidence," he wrote in the letter.

Click here for more from KTVU FOX San Francisco.

Click to read Adam Housley's on-the-scene blog.

Police officials previously have said that an empty vodka bottle was on the front seat of the car the three young men drove to the zoo last week.

Hannawalt proposed having evidence experts from his office and others hired by the brothers inspect the phones and the car together when the police are ready to release it "in the interests of getting to the real facts behind this tragedy."

A message to Geragos' office on Friday was not immediately returned.

Geragos told The Associated Press earlier this week that he wants to get hold of his clients' cell phone records to see if they hold any information that would back up their claim that they tried in vain for over half-an-hour to notify the zoo the tiger had escaped.

City officials have been investigating the fatal attack to determine if the 350-pound tiger, which was shot dead by police, was harassed or teased in any way before she jumped or climbed out of her enclosure.