San Francisco Zoo tiger attacks

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Two tiger attacks at the San Francisco Zoo occurred on December 22, 2006 and December 25, 2007, involving a 243-pound Siberian tiger named Tatiana (June 27, 2003 — December 25, 2007) on both incidents. In the first incident, a zookeeper was bitten in the arm during a public feeding. During the second incident, in which two people were injured and one killed, police officers shot and killed the tiger.^[1]

Contents 1 History and first attack 2 Second attack and subsequent death 3 Aftermath 4 References 5 External links

[edit] History and first attack

Tatiana was born in Denver on June 27, 2003. She was brought to the San Francisco Zoo on December 16, 2005 to provide another Siberian tiger with companionship.^[2] On December 22, 2006 during a public feeding, Tatiana clawed and bit zookeeper Lori Komejan's arm which was placed or pulled between the cage bars. ^[2] Komejan's right arm was severely injured as a result,^[3] and the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration later found the zoo at fault due to inadequate safety precautions and inadequate staff training.^[4] The San Francisco Zoo was fined US$18,000 for the incident.^[5] The Zoo decided not to kill Tatiana because, in the words of then Zoo director M. Mollinedo, "the tiger was acting as a normal tiger does."^[6]

[edit] Second attack and subsequent death

On Christmas day (December 25), 2007, Tatiana escaped from her open-air enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo and attacked three visitors shortly after closing time.^[7][8] After escaping from the tiger grotto, Tatiana killed one patron (Carlos Sousa Jr., aged 17) and injured two others (Amritpal "Paul" and Kulbir Dhaliwal, brothers aged 19 and 23). The brothers fled to the zoo cafe approximately 300 yards (270 m) away and, according to initial reports, left a trail of blood that the tiger followed. Paul Dhaliwal, 19, began screaming outside the locked Terrace cafe, prompting an employee to call 9-1-1 at 5:07 pm.^[9]

Initial police response was delayed momentarily, in part because cafe personnel that called the police voiced suspicions that perhaps the allegations of an animal attack were being made by a mentally unstable person. When the police and fire crews arrived at the zoo, they were further delayed by zoo security guards who were enforcing a lockdown of the zoo so that the tiger would not escape, and also because medical protocol states that members of most ambulance corps cannot enter the scene until they are assured that it is safe to do so.^{[citation needed]} Carlos Sousa was found near the tiger grotto, allegedly by a zoo employee, who remained with him until rescue crews arrived.^[10] The scene was chaotic, and up to 13 minutes after the initial 9-1-1 call, police officers and fire department paramedics reached Carlos Sousa's body, and found his throat slashed or punctured.^[9] When four police officers and zoo shooting team member^[10] reached the tiger, they found it with one of the brothers, Kulbir Dhaliwal, but did not shoot Tatiana, according to the SF police chief, as they could not be assured of "contain(ing) their fire" (not injuring human life). After distraction, the tiger turned towards the officers, and was shot and killed. ^[1] The Dhaliwal brothers received deep bites and claw wounds on their heads, necks, arms, and hands, but their injuries were not life-threatening, and they were released from the hospital on December 29, 2007.^[6][11]

[edit] Aftermath

It was not immediately apparent how Tatiana had escaped, but police say that Tatiana may have "leaped" or "climbed" the walls of her enclosure.^[12] Police undertook a criminal investigation to determine whether one of the victims "climbed over a waist-high fence and then dangled a leg or other body part over the edge of a moat that kept the big cat away from the public"^[1] but it has yet to substantiate this hypothesis.^[13]

The director of the zoo says it is likely that Tatiana was provoked. He said that: "Somebody created a situation that really agitated her and gave her some sort of a method to break out. There is no possible way the cat could have made it out of there in a single leap. I would surmise that there was help. A couple of feet dangling over the edge could possibly have done it."^[1] Sources to the San Francisco Chronicle said that pinecones and sticks were found which might have been thrown at Tatiana, and which could not have landed there naturally.^[1] Amritpal (Paul) Dhaliwal, 19, would later admit to the deceased victim's father that the three had yelled and waved at the tiger ^[14][15]. Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, stated to police that the three had smoked marijuana and consumed vodka on the day of the attack^[15], which toxicology tests confirmed.^[14]

A partially-filled^[15][16] vodka bottle and marijuana^[14] were also found in the 2002 BMW car used by the Dhaliwal brothers on the day of the mauling. According to early news sources, the Dhaliwal brothers had slingshots on them at the time. However, according to later reports, the police denied that slingshots were found in the car or the zoo^[17]. It has been claimed that the discoveries could be an indication that the brothers may have taunted the 253-pound Siberian tiger before it leapt from its grotto.^[18]

Zoo visitor Jennifer Miller and her family allegedly saw the group of young men, including an unidentified 4th person, taunting lions less than an hour before the tiger attack. She later identified Sousa as being part of the group, but said Sousa did not join in the taunting. The Dhaliwal brothers' lawyer, Mark Geragos, denies that the brothers teased the animals. San Francisco police have been unable to corroborate reports of the taunting. ^[19]

The Dhaliwal brothers have been "hostile" to the police following the attack.^[11] They initially refused to identify themselves or Carlos Sousa to the police, and they refused to give interviews to the police until two days after the attack. As yet, the brothers have not spoken publicly about the details of what happened to them.^[11][20] On January 1, 2008, the Dhaliwal brothers hired lawyer Mark Geragos and planned to sue San Francisco Zoo for their "utter disregard for safety."^[21]

All of this publicity, in a manner critics label as an attempt to blame the vicitims of the attack so as to shield the zoo from responsibility for any inappropriate actions the zoo may have undertaken, has heightened the notoriety of the attack.^{[22][23] [24]} Hence, obtaining an objective factual understanding of all the events leading up to and occuring durring and after the attack will be a difficult undertaking.

The zoo remained closed until January 3, 2008.^[9]

The attack was the first visitor fatality at a member zoo in the history of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, according to the association.^[25] On Thursday December 27, 2007, the zoo retracted its prior claims that the grotto's moat wall was 18 feet (5.5 m) tall, after officials measured it and found it was actually 12.5 feet (3.8 m) tall. The AZA recommendation for big cat enclosures is a moat wall of 16.5 feet (5.0 m). Tatiana's feet were also found to have concrete chips, suggesting that she climbed out of the moat using her claws on the wall.^[26]

A 1996 zoo visitor reported an incident in which a tiger lept and got a paw on the dirt on top of the wall, but slipped down. She said that a zoo employee dismissed the incident as a regular occurrence and that her letter to the zoo's director went unanswered.^[26][27]

On January 15, 2008, the transcripts and the recordings of the 911 calls were released.^[28][29]

On February 16, 2008, the zoo re-opened the tiger exhibit which has been extensively renovated to meet the extension of the concrete moat wall up to the minimum height of 16 feet 4 inches from the bottom of the moat, installation of glass fencing on the top of the wall to extend the height to 19 feet, and installation of hotwire.^[30]

On March 27, 2008, the brothers filed claims with the city of San Francisco seeking compensation for their injuries and emotional harm.^[31] Hours later, the same day, Paul Dhalwial was arrested and charged with five felony counts in connection with alleged shoplifting incidents in Southern Alameda County. ^[32]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• San Francisco Chronicle collection of articles and media related to the attack [1]
• Tiger attack information on the San Francisco wiki