Tiger escapes and kills 1, hurts 2 in San Francisco
 

This happened yesterday:(

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl.../MNABU4Q5T.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle
Investigation continues into fatal tiger attack at S.F. zoo
Kevin Fagan, Jaxon VanDerbeken, John Koopman,Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writers

Wednesday, December 26, 2007
12-26) 15:42 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Police are treating the San Francisco Zoo as a crime scene this afternoon, one day after a 350-pound tiger escaped and attacked three San Jose boys, killing a 17-year-old before hunting down and seriously injuring two of his friends.

Carlos Sousa Jr was killed Christmas evening outside the tiger grotto, which is protected by a 15-foot-wide moat and 20-foot high wall. Tatiana, a 350-pound Siberian tiger that also attacked a zookeeper almost exactly a year ago, was shot by police as it mauled one of the survivors 300 yards away from the grotto.

Zoo officials are still unsure how the tiger escaped the enclosure. Authorities believe it initially attacked all three victims, killing Sousa. Officials believe the cat then followed blood trails to Terrace Cafe where it cornered the other boys, brothers ages 19 and 23.

San Francisco police Lt. Leroy Lindo said police currently have no reason to believe the three men taunted the tiger prior to the attack, which happened shortly after the zoo's 5 p.m. closing time. Dozens of visitors and some employees were still inside the zoo at the time.

Authorities were called to the scene after receiving a call that said an unspecified animal may be loose in the zoo and that a visitor had been bitten.

When police arrived, they first found Sousa, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The officers began a search and found the 23-year-old victim lying on the ground with cuts on his face. He was cornered by the tiger. As the officers approached, police said, the tiger jumped back on top of the man and resumed its attack. The animal then became distracted by the four officers, who were yelling, and advanced toward the officers. All four fired their .40-caliber handguns, hitting the tiger an unknown number of times.

Gittens said the officers did not want to shoot the animal while it was sitting next to the victim.

"I can only imagine the patrons walking around, and suddenly seeing this tiger," he said. "It was probably surreal."

The officers then found the third victim, the 19-year-old man, near his brother.

The brothers were in stable condition today after surgeries at San Francisco General Hospital.

John Sousa said he learned of his nephew's death this morning.

"This is very rough, very hard on us. There's nothing much we can do. This will be investigated, it's going to take some time," he said. "He was a great kid, he took off on Christmas with friends, we're not sure what happened."

San Francisco Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo said the zoo has a response team that is armed with tranquilizers and firearms, but that the scene unfolded "so quickly that the officers found (Tatiana) first."

The zoo does not have video surveillance, police said, so the investigation will be based on physical evidence collected at the zoo, witness statements, the autopsy of the dead man and the necropsy of the tiger.

Police officers, along with fire department and zoo personnel, conducted four searches of the zoo grounds between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning to ensure no other people had been attacked, said police spokesman Sgt. Neville Gittens. Authorities used a California Highway Patrol helicopter with thermal imaging and floodlights to comb the zoo for additional victims or escaped animals when it was still dark, he said.

At one point, police said, zoo officials feared that the four other tigers that belong to the zoo were on the loose. Authorities said one zookeeper wanted to go into the large cat grotto to account for the remaining animals, and police had to physically restrain him.

Rochelle Dicker, an emergency room surgeon at San Francisco General Hospital who operated on the victims, said today that the two unnamed brothers were recovering remarkably well. Doctors are focusing on preventing infection from the bacteria that may be present in the men's wounds, she said. That bacteria is similar to the type found in the common house cat, officials said.

Dicker said the men were in critical condition when they arrived at the hospital Tuesday but that emergency crews had managed to stabilize the victims and clean their wounds. Both men underwent multiple surgeries with several different teams of doctors through the night, she said. The surgeries mostly consisted of cleaning the wounds more thoroughly and stitching the gashes, Dicker said.

Doctors will keep the men at the hospital today to monitor them, she said. Dicker attributed their recovery to the fact that both are young and in good health.

The zoo, which is closed today for the first time in years, was eerily quiet this morning. The cafe where the attack victims were found is shuttered and still. A dozen police officers gathered with zoo officials just west of the cafe earlier this morning, poring over maps and handing out equipment. This afternoon, a handful of visitors continued to filter up tot the entrance, unaware of what had happened.

"Oh my gosh! I hadn't heard anything about a tiger," said one visitor, Komer Poodari, of San Jose. "I guess we'll go to Fisherman's Wharf."

Mollinedo said that officials hope to reopen the zoo Thursday, but plan on keeping the outdoor big cat exhibit closed indefinitely. Police are treating the area as a crime scene, collecting physical evidence and taking statements from any witnesses, Police Chief Heather Fong said.

Lora LaMarca, a zoo spokeswoman, said this morning that officials still have no idea how the animal escaped from its grotto. Police refused to rule out the possibility of carelessness or criminal activity, and zoo officials said the tiger did not escape through the grotto's only door.

"We don't know at this point if somebody let the tiger out or it climbed out," Gittens said, adding that if someone did let the animal out it would be considered a crime.

The zoo held a staff meeting this morning, LaMarca said, and authorities there are offering grief counselors to its employees.

"The zoo offers its sincerest sympathies to the people affected," she said.

This is the second time in just over a year that Tatiana attacked a human.

On Dec. 22, 2006, the tiger chewed the flesh off zookeeper Lori Komejan's arm after a public feeding demonstration. A state investigation later ruled that the zoo was at fault for the attack because of the way the cages were configured.

A June report from the state Division of Occupation Safety and Health blamed the San Francisco Zoo for the 2006 attack, stating that the tiger cages were configured in a way that made it possible for Tatiana to bite the zookeeper's arm. The state found that Komejan was attacked after she reached through a drain trough to retrieve an item near the tiger's side of the cage. The tiger reached under the cage bars and grabbed her right arm, but the zookeeper tried to push the tiger away using her other arm, the report found.

Both of her arms were under the cage at that point and her face was pressed against the cage bars, according to the report. Another employee grabbed a long-handled squeegee and hit the tiger in the head until it released the injured zookeeper.

"There was never any consideration for putting her down - the tiger was acting like a normal tiger," Mollinedo said today.

The public feedings at the Lion House resumed in September after about $250,000 in safety upgrades. The city, which helps fund the zoo, is currently facing a lawsuit from Komejan and is assessing today whether it is at all liable for the Christmas Day mauling, officials said.

Mayor Gavin Newsom is in Hawaii for a Christmas vacation; Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, the acting mayor, has not commented publicly.

Mollinedo said today that he has brought in colleagues from other accredited zoos to do a thorough analysis of the big cat exhibits.

"We want to make sure they are safe, and see what kind of modifications should be done to ensure the safety of (people and animals)," he said.

Anyone who witnessed the tiger's escape Tuesday or the attacks is asked to call authorities at (415) 553-1141.

Chronicle staff writers Meredith May, Cecilia Vega and Steve Rubenstein contributed to this report. E-mail the writers at kfagan@sfchronicle.com, jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com, jkoopman@sfchronicle.com and mlagos@sfchronicle.com.

They're now saying that they think the tiger jumped out, and didn't get out through an open cage door. It sounds like Tatiana was not a very socialized tiger, but she just might have been an edgy one.

Tatiana was born at the Denver Zoo.

My money is on a door being left open or someone helping her out of her cage, rather than her jumping over a 20-foot moat and up the 18 foot wall on the other side. That would be a HUGE leap.

It's a shame...the tiger was just being a normal tiger.

:(

Parents saw coverage, but didn't know tiger victim was their son
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl.../MNO6U4U72.DTL

AND

Trail of blood apparently led escaped tiger to victims
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...4SVN.DTL&tsp=1

For crying out loud, this is what wild animals do, they are not tame no matter where they are born.

Seigried and Roy for example!

There is a place in Kansas where wild animals are and high school kids would come and have pictures taken until one bit a Senior there to get a picture taken! Oops do not do that any more.

If the zoo was closed, what were they doing there anyway? How did the cat get loose? Well, they are very athletic, but that tall a wall, and that wide a moat, come on!:confused:

Never run from a wild animal, they go for the chase. They are preditors and they hunt from insinct. Watch you home kitty stalk something!:):rolleyes:

Tom, the zoo was open for the day and this happened around 5 pm when the closing sweep was about to happen.

There is some speculation that zoo visiters were taunting the tiger.

That doesn't answer the question of how she got out, though.

True, on the news (local channel 4 KRON) they had commented that it was possible that the kids were taunting the animal and might have climbed into the moat. I haven’t checked for any updates (5:07pmPST) recently but I’m sure they police and zoo officials will come up with something.

I really feel bad for the young man's family. Hopefully, more information will come from the two survivors.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl.../MNFFU5G80.DTL
Tiger grotto wall shorter than thought, may have contributed to escape and fatal attack
Kevin Fagan, Cecilia M. Vega, John Coté,Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, December 27, 2007
12-27) 14:51 PST San Francisco - --

The wall of a moat that surrounds the San Francisco Zoo's tiger enclosure is far shorter than officials thought and also below national standards, authorities said today.

Zoo officials have gone back and forth on the grotto's measurements since a 350-pound tiger escaped on Christmas Day, killing 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. and seriously injuring two of his friends. The survivors were identified by relatives and public records as brothers Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23. The three young men were from San Jose.

Earlier this week, zoo officials said the moat's wall was at least 20 feet tall. Today, they said it was little over 12 feet. Since the investigation began Tuesday, officials have given at least five different measurements for the enclosure, which is surrounded by a moat, two walls on either side of the moat, a small patch of grass and then another waist-high fence. Experts say that the depth of the moat and height of the walls could have a large impact on the animal's ability to escape the enclosure.

Read the rest at the website...

NBC Nightly News reported the difference in heights of the wall tonight.

I'd say the zoo has some real problems ahead.

The boys have lawyered up - hired the guy who defended Scott Peterson - and are going to sue the zoo. It looks like the kids were taunting the tiger. I just saw on CNN that they found rocks and branches and other things in the tiger grotto that wouldn't have gotten in there without being thrown. It's also a pretty good indicator of something fishy going on given that the boys are refusing to cooperate with investigators. Anyway, if it turns out that the tiger was provoked, then I think the zoo should sue the boys for the loss of their tiger.

That was my initial thought. I've been to that exhibit and have seen it up close. It's a lot of concrete and no brush in the moat area. My other thought too was why was there no supervision of the tigers? At least one person for the exhibit for those type of animals. I hate zoos anyway. I was never kin' to the idea of caged animals that shouldn't be there. Just me.

I agree 100%

Cosign KKCat and NinjaPoodle......I hope for their sake, they didn't provoke the tiger...b/c there's gonna be an outcry if they did

They hired the guy that defended Scott Peterson? Yeah, that one didn't exactly go Scott's way.

And I agree about the taunting. If they were taunting the tiger, then they do owe the zoo a new one. Who goes to the zoo to taunt animals anyway?

There are now also reports that in the two surviving kids' car there was an empty bottle of vodka, and that slingshots were found on them....we'll see.

Now the SF zoo is putting up signs saying "Be respectful of the animals", it's a damn zoo, don't people know that anyhow??? Hmm, let's see, 350lb tiger, with big teeth and scary claws, I think I'll taunt it, yeah! Great idea! In a certain respect, if these three were taunting the tiger this may be Darwinism at work.

I felt bad that they had to shoot the tiger...Tatiana was just doing what tigers do.