Mauling Victim Taunted Tiger, Police Say

[Janice]

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/mauling-victim-taunted-tiger-police-say/20080118071709990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

Mauling Victim Taunted Tiger, Police Say

SAN FRANCISCO (Jan. 18) - One of the three victims of San Francisco Zoo tiger attack was intoxicated and admitted to yelling and waving at the animal while standing atop the railing of the big cat enclosure, police said in court documents filed Thursday.

Paul Dhaliwal, 19, told the father of Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, who was killed, that the three yelled and waved at the tiger but insisted they never threw anything into its pen to provoke the cat, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle.

"As a result of this investigation, (police believe) that the tiger may have been taunted/agitated by its eventual victims," according to Inspector Valerie Matthews, who prepared the affidavit. Police believe that "this factor contributed to the tiger escaping from its enclosure and attacking its victims," she said.

Sousa's father, Carlos Sousa Sr., said Dhaliwal told him the three stood on a 3-foot-tall metal railing a few feet from the edge of the tiger moat. "When they got down they heard a noise in the bushes, and the tiger was jumping out of the bushes on him (Paul Dhaliwal)," the documents said.

Police found a partial shoe print that matched Paul Dhaliwal's on top of the railing, Matthews said in the documents.

The papers said Paul Dhaliwal told Sousa that no one was dangling his legs over the enclosure. Authorities believe the tiger leaped or climbed out of the enclosure, which had a wall 4 feet shorter than the recommended minimum.

The affidavit also cites multiple reports of a group of young men taunting animals at the zoo, the Chronicle reported.

Mark Geragos, an attorney for the Dhaliwal brothers, did not immediately return a call late Thursday by The Associated Press for comment. He has repeatedly said they did not taunt the tiger.

Calls to Sousa and Michael Cardoza, an attorney for the Sousa family, also weren't returned.

Toxicology results for Dhaliwal showed that his blood alcohol level was 0.16 - twice the legal limit for driving, according to the affidavit. His 24-year-old brother, Kulbir, and Sousa also had alcohol in their blood but within the legal limit, Matthews wrote.

All three also had marijuana in their systems, Matthews said. Kulbir Dhaliwal told police that the three had smoked pot and each had "a couple shots of vodka" before leaving San Jose for the zoo on Christmas Day, the affidavit said.

Police found a small amount of marijuana in Kulbir Dhaliwal's 2002 BMW, which the victims rode to the zoo, as well as a partially filled bottle of vodka, according to court documents.

Investigators also recovered messages and images from the cell phones, but apparently nothing incriminating in connection with the tiger attack, the Chronicle reported.

Zoo spokesman Sam Singer said he had not seen the documents but believed the victims did taunt the animal, even though they claim they hadn't.

"Those brothers painted a completely different picture to the public and the press," Singer said. "Now it's starting to come out that what they said is not true."

[Janice]

The tiger, Tatiana, was shot dead after the attack. Recordings of 911 calls that day revealed one of the men's desperate pleas for help, and doubt on the part of zoo employees that the animal had indeed escaped.

[Janice]

Kulbir Dhaliwal, Paul's brother, was also injured in the attack. Their friend, Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, was killed. Here, Dhaliwal attends Sousa's burial in San Jose, Calif.

[Janice]

Police say tiger mauling victim Paul Dhaliwal, seen leaving the Jan. 8 funeral of a friend who died in the attack, was drunk and had yelled at the Siberian tiger before the mauling. The animal escaped from its enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day.

[Max Whittaker]

An animal like that doesn't attack for no reason. Makes the fact that they had to destroy it all the more tragic. Stupid punk kids! If I ever have children like that, I'll give them to gypsies!

[Janice]

Sousa poses in an undated family photo. An attorney for Sousa's father said Paul Dhaliwal told him the three stood on a railing near the edge of a moat around the tiger enclosure. "When they got down they heard a noise in the bushes, and the tiger was jumping out of the bushes on him (Paul Dhaliwal)," court documents said.

[Janice]

The tiger jumped or climbed over a wall around its open-air enclosure, according to authorities. "It's a matter of life and death!" one of the victims shouted into a 911 call.

[Janice]

A construction crew takes measurements in front of the lion exhibit, located next to the zoo's tiger grotto, about a week after the attack. New security measures were put in place before the zoo reopened.

[Janice]

Tatiana, here in 2006, lived in an exhibit area that included a 33-foot moat and a 12 foot, 5 inch wall, Mollinedo said. The tiger was born in Denver four years ago and had lived at the San Francisco Zoo since 2005.

[Janice]

A worker feeds Tatiana in September. The tiger mauled a zookeeper during a public feeding in 2006, leaving deep cuts with her claws and teeth. A state investigation of that attack found that the zoo was to blame.

[catlover79]

That doesn't surprise me one bit.

[Ireneparalegal]

I still find fault partially with the zoo for the lower wall. Imagine if that tiger had mauled other visitors, including children, instead of those three idiots!? Yes, but for the actions of those dumb boys, that tiger would still be alive, but no animal should be able to get out of its enclosure...EVER.


Seeing that picture of the tigers being fed now proves what I thought two weeks ago when I was watching DIRTY JOBS on Discovery Channel. The host was working at that tiger pen at the zoo and they did air footage of Tatiana the tiger. I wasn't sure if it was her, I even made a thread. Thanx for that picture Janice, it now proves that. If you have ever seen that show Dirty Jobs, the host of the show goes to different places and does various jobs. One of the episodes centered around the San Francisco Zoo.

[TripperFan]

I disagree Irene. At first I thought the wall was too low also (read it somewhere on Yahoo I think) but then standards officials had a look at the setup and said that it was up to world standards.

Bottom line is that it was like I thought initally, stupid, drunk kids thinking they're being funny or brave and taunting an unpredictable, wild animal. What do you expect? Obviously part of their "fun" was that they knew they were taking a risk to a certain degree. Do you think they'd do the same stunt over the beaver enclosure or something? Not likely.

Booze makes you do dumb things sometimes. Even once as a kid, my family was camping in Algonquin Park. My dad was having a late night beer at the picnic table by himself. A black bear wanders up and is rummaging through our garbage can and dad decides he's going to chase the bear off. Now he was o.k., but all that bear had to do was decide to turn and fight and pops would have been cooked - by his own stupidity.

[catlover79]

If those kids were stupid enough to taunt a tiger, then they deserved what happened to them. It's that simple.

[EmoJoe]

Originally Posted by catlover79

If those kids were stupid enough to taunt a tiger, then they deserved what happened to them. It's that simple.

i agree. it's not the tiger's fault that they were idiots. why would you taunt a tiger? not only is that being cruel to animals, it's just plain stupid. i feel more sorry for the tiger then the person who died.