posted December 27, 2007 02:50 PM         

"I don't think my son would do something like taunt animals,"
Carlos Sousa told ABC's "Good Morning America." "It's
unbelievable, but only the evidence can prove that. And right now I
can't say much."

His son, Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, was one of three men attacked by
a Siberian tiger around closing time on Christmas. Police shot the
300-pound animal to death after it killed Sousa and severely mauled
two brothers who also were visiting the zoo.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, police found a shoe
and blood in an area between the gate and the edge of the animal's
20-foot-wide moat, raising the possibility that one of the victims
dangled a leg or other body part over the edge of the moat.

Police could not confirm the Chronicle's report to The
Associated Press on Thursday.

"I don't think this deserves to happen to anybody - taunting or
not taunting," Carlos Sousa told ABC. "Animals should be
protected from the people and the people should be protected from
the animals."

Police Chief Heather Fong said Wednesday the department opened a
criminal investigation to "determine if there was human
involvement in the tiger getting out or if the tiger was able to
get out on its own."

The zoo remained closed Thursday.

One zoo official insisted the tiger did not get out through an
open door and must have climbed or leaped out. But Jack Hanna,
former director of the Columbus Zoo, said such a leap would be an
unbelievable feat and "virtually impossible."

Instead, he speculated that visitors could have been fooling
around and might have taunted the animal and perhaps even helped it
get out by, say, putting a board in the moat.

Ron Magill, a spokesman at the Miami Metro Zoo, said it was
unlikely a zoo tiger could make such a leap, even with a running
start.

"Captive tigers aren't nearly in the kind of shape that wild
tigers have to be in to survive," he said. He said taunting can
definitely make an animal more aggressive, but "whether it makes
it more likely to get out of an exhibit is purely speculative."

The zoo had no surveillance cameras at the tiger exhibit, which
means investigators will have to rely on other evidence to piece
together how the tiger escaped, police said.

The same tiger, a 4-year-old female named Tatiana, ripped the
flesh off a zookeeper's arm just before Christmas a year ago while
the woman was feeding the animal through the bars. A state
investigation faulted the zoo, which installed better equipment at
the Lion House, where the big cats are kept.

Zoo director Manuel Mollinedo said Wednesday he gave no thought
to destroying Tatiana after the 2006 incident, because "the tiger
was acting as a normal tiger does." As for whether Tatiana showed
any warning signs before Tuesday's attack, Mollinedo said: "She
seemed to be very well-adjusted into that exhibit."

It was unclear how long the tiger had been loose before it was
killed. The three visitors were attacked around closing time
Tuesday on the 125-acre zoo grounds. Four officers hunted down and
shot the animal after police got a 911 call from a zoo employee.

The zoo has a response team that can shoot animals. But zoo
officials and police described the initial moments after the escape
as chaotic.

The first attack happened right outside the tiger's enclosure -
Sousa died at the scene. Another was about 300 yards away, in front
of the zoo cafe. The police chief said the animal was mauling one
of the survivors, and when officers yelled at it to stop, it turned
toward them and they opened fire.

Only then did they see the third victim, police said.

The two injured men, 19- and 23-year-old brothers from San Jose,
were in stable condition Wednesday at San Francisco General
Hospital. They suffered deep bites and claw wounds on their heads,
necks, arms and hands, said Dr. Rochelle Dicker, a surgeon. She
said they were expected to recover fully.

Sousa's parents told the AP they didn't know why their son went
to the zoo Tuesday, but it should have been a fun Christmas Day
activity.

"It's not a safe place for kids," said his mother, Marilza
Sousa. "People go there to have a good time, not to get killed."

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

posted December 27, 2007 02:53 PM         

I believe that Zoo's nowadays have strictly confined areas for their wildlife!

I really believe the guy climbed into Tatiana's enclosure. I really believe they teased, and taunted her. Pine cones and sticks were found in her enclosure and the reports say that there is no way they could have fallen in naturally due to the immediate surroundings of the enclosure.

Note the part above that I highlighted in bold! HELLO!

Will be interesting to see if the 2 victims in the hospital tell the truth or not about taunting her.

posted December 28, 2007 01:48 AM         

I always thought that zoos had crews who took care of things like that with guns that only sedate the animal. Why was that not the case here?

If the young men were taunting the tiger that would be bad enough in itself but if they also dangled their legs in the moat area that would be seen as a territorial invasion by a tiger. All felines, even house cats, are very territorial. They will instinctively defend their territory. If they were also throwing objects at the tiger that would be seen as a definite threat to a tiger.

Mostly that the tiger got out of the moat area seems to be the fault of the zoo.

This was in the paper today:

The director of the San Francisco Zoo admitted Thursday that the wall surrounding the zoo's tiger enclosure is shorter than the height recommended by a zoo accrediting agency.

Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo said the wall is 12.5 feet tall, while the Association of Zoos & Aquariums recommends a minimum height of 16.4 feet.

Mollinedo said safety inspectors examined the wall, and never raised any concerns about its size. He said now they'll be "revisiting the actual height."

Mollinedo said he examined the habitat area along with police following the incident and found no gates or doors unlocked.

"Every lock was in place," he said. "There was absolutely no way the tiger could have escaped from the back portion of the exhibit or the building."

Officials from other zoos around the country are being brought in to help re-evaluate the zoo's big-cat exhibit.

It has happened before in a couple of cases. One that I recall that happened not too long ago was the teen who climbed in the polar bear exhibit at a zoo and was killed.

It's just nuts to do things like that. And it's cruel to taunt any animal that is caged or enclosed in a small area like that. I am getting more and more turned off to zoos because I always feel sorry for the animals. They should be left in the wild where they belong. Not closed in small spaces like that where they cannot hunt and roam as nature intended them to do.

I love to look at tigers and lions. All felines are, to me, nature's most beautiful creatures. But at zoos I always feel sorry for them. Gorillas too. The gorillas always look so unhappy. Once at the zoo I had an encounter with a gorilla who was behind a glassed area. He was sitting in a corner by the glass when we approached the exhibit. Lots of people were around but he kept eye contact with just me as if there was no else to look at. It is almost as if he could sense my feelings of sorrow for him being enclosed like that and read my mind. He stared into my eyes for a long time. He looked very sad. Then he got up left the enclosure through a door that I guess led inside to his cage.

I guess if the other two boys do tell what actually happened we will know but they may not even have been with the boy that was killed. They might have just been innocent by-standers.

posted December 28, 2007 01:53 PM         

Tiger attack: Victim's brother doesn't believe he would taunt beast

John Cot�, Jaxon Van Derbeken,Leslie Fulbright, Chronicle Staff Writers

Friday, December 28, 2007

When Carlos Sousa Jr. didn't show up for Christmas dinner, his father called several of his son's friends - including the two brothers injured in the tiger attack that killed the teen.

Either Amritpal "Paul" Dhaliwal, 19, or his 23-year-old brother Kulbir Dhaliwal answered the phone and told Sousa Sr. that his son wasn't with them. In reality, the three young men were either on their way to or had already arrived at the San Francisco Zoo, where they would later be mauled by a 350-pound Siberian tiger.

"I said, 'Have you seen my son?' and he said, 'No,' then he wished me a merry Christmas," the father said.

The Dhaliwal brothers remained in stable condition Thursday, recovering from their injuries at San Francisco General Hospital. Their relatives, reached Thursday at their home on a quiet San Jose cul-de-sac, declined to speak to reporters.

"We have no comment at this time," said the boys' 25-year-old brother Sunny Dhaliwal, adding that his family wanted to speak to the boys and hospital staff before talking publicly about the incident.

A man accompanying family members outside the house later told a reporter that the family would have nothing to say until after consulting with a lawyer.

The Dhaliwal brothers have been hostile to police in the current death investigation and were "extremely belligerent" in an earlier encounter with police this year, authorities say.

After the zoo attack, authorities said, the brothers had refused to give their own names, identify the victim or initially give authorities an account of what occurred.

Thursday, police interviewed the two brothers, as well as Sousa's father. Authorities didn't release the details of the interviews but did say their investigation showed that the tiger first attacked the older brother.

The brother yelled, police said, and the tiger released him, then grabbed Sousa. At that time, the brothers ran toward the cafe. The tiger caught up to them and again attacked before police fatally shot her.

"My son was trying to distract the tiger and scare it away," said Sousa Sr. after talking to police. "My son was being brave. I'm proud of him."

Sousa said Thursday that his son and Paul Dhaliwal were close friends and shared a love of music, especially hip-hop. They wanted to write music professionally, he said.

"Carlos loved to write music, and he liked to sing," Leo Ferreira, Sousa's 21-year-old half brother, said in an interview.

Ferreira, who lived with Sousa until recently moving to Gilroy, said he was supposed to see his brother on Christmas but that he didn't show up and no one knew where he was.

"It caught me off guard when I found out he was with Paul because my dad had called him," Ferreira said. "They have said before that he wasn't with them when he really was."

Ferreira said he still can't believe the boy all over the news is his brother. He was reading about the attack on AOL when his father called from the morgue and told him his brother is dead. The family is still waiting for answers, but the teen's relatives said they don't think Sousa Jr. would have done anything to provoke the attack.

"An officer said that someone provoked the cat, but I know it wasn't my brother," Ferreira said. "He loves animals and I can't see him taunting any animal or anyone, for that matter. I spent my life with him, I know how he is.

"But even if he did, (the tiger) shouldn't have gotten out."

Many questions will be answered by the Dhaliwal brothers. Outside San Francisco General on Thursday, chief of surgery Dr. William Schecter said he is optimistic the two would make a full recovery, but that they would likely remain hospitalized for days.

"They should be able to walk out of here (when they are released)," he said.

Several neighbors along the Dhaliwals' street, where young boys skateboarded Thursday afternoon amid a throng of television trucks, said they didn't know the brothers personally.

Both Kulbir and Paul Dhaliwal were charged Oct. 9 with misdemeanor public intoxication and resisting a police officer after they were arrested a short distance from their home while apparently chasing two men, according to court documents.

Kulbir Dhaliwal allegedly cursed officers and kicked the security partition between the back and front seats in a police car after being handcuffed in the Sept. 7 incident, the police report said.

The brothers pleaded not guilty to the charges and are scheduled to appear in court Jan. 15, records show.

"The reports indicate they were extremely belligerent with police," said Steuart Scott, the deputy district attorney assigned the case.

Ralph Benitez, a public defender who represents Kulbir Dhaliwal, did not return calls seeking comment.

On Thursday, Sousa's friends and family created a Web site to memorialize him.

Kalee Thompson, 15, who went to Piedmont High with Sousa, said she had Sousa and Paul Dhaliwal over last week for a Christmas party.

"When you first meet him, he's really shy, but once you get to know him he's funny, really nice, not the kind of person to be mean to anybody," she said of Sousa.

"Carlos was just a normal teen," Tatyana Stewart, a friend and neighbor in San Jose, said in an e-mail. "He always liked making me laugh by doing random things like breaking his skateboard in the middle of the street or trying to sing. He was also a very talkative person.

"He would sit with me and our neighborhood friends for hours just talking about life."

Chronicle writers Marisa Lagos, John Koopman and Jill Tucker contributed to this report.

posted December 28, 2007 02:01 PM         

I, too, raised the same question, why was Tatiana not just tranquilized?

From what I have been told by someone who is involved in the Zoo, the tiger was in the process of attacking and mauling one of the victims, so at the time the police's only choice was to shoot to kill.

Yes, I agree with you, all wildlife have been BORN FREE and should remain that way.

Unfortuneately, we live in a very twisted world with extinction due to poaching, hunting, and global warming, which also threatens habitats (such as polar bears in the Arctic - the ice melting), and markets in China and Korea who love to import as many exotic species as possible.

Some Zoos have the goal to protect species and keep them healthy, but I agree that only zoos who have a huge habitat that closely match that where a wild animal can live to its fullest potential, following all of it's innate instincts and abilities that it was meant to have, should be allowed.

Animal Planet used to have a series, I can't think of the title right now, but it was only about Zoo's who have a habitat described such as this.

*sigh* Poor Tatiana was just being herself - a Tiger.

posted December 30, 2007 11:12 AM         

Patricia Yollin, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, December 30, 2007

A koala is kidnapped. Sheep are molested by a human intruder. An elephant does a headstand on a technician, breaking her pelvis. A tiger ravages its keeper's arm. A year later, on Christmas Day, the same feline escapes, kills and gets killed.

This is what life can be like at the San Francisco Zoo, a 78-year-old institution saddled with a history of mismanagement and scores of injuries to animals, employees and visitors alike - yet still beloved by generations of Bay Area residents.

It's almost as if the place is cursed.

Tuesday's attack by Tatiana, a Siberian tiger that broke out of her yard, fatally mauled a teenager and injured two of his friends before being shot to death by police, has captured international attention. From Paris to Beijing, people are asking: How could this happen?

"For the next 50 years, it's what the San Francisco Zoo will be remembered for," said one high-ranking former employee.

The very public tragedy overshadows decades of problems - and the troubles of the current zoo administration, which began in February 2004 when Manuel Mollinedo became director of the 100-acre facility.

Almost four years later, attendance has increased, celebrations built around ethnic holidays have drawn crowds, new arrivals such as KuneKune pigs have proved popular, and two splashy exhibits - Hearst Grizzly Gulch and the long-planned African Savanna - have opened. However, problems have multiplied and employee morale has plummeted.

"It's never been this bad," one worker said.

For this story, Mollinedo declined to talk. "Manuel is not doing interviews," Lora LaMarca, the zoo's director of marketing and public relations, said Friday.

The director's tenure has been highly eventful.

Three of the zoo's four elephants have died since March 2004 - two at the zoo, a third at a Calaveras County sanctuary where it was sent, broken-down and ailing. The lone survivor still lives there. The fight over the pachyderms' fate, taken up by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and animal rights activists, enraged the national Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which tabled the zoo's accreditation for a year.

Puddles, a venerable 44-year-old hippopotamus, died in May, a day after a move that some employees say was bungled and others say should never have been made.

This summer, two giant elands, valued at $30,000 apiece, were killed by their peer soon after all three arrived at the zoo, during a quarantine that sources say was doomed and mishandled. Two black swans, introduced with much fanfare in May 2006, also didn't last long.

A year ago June, some parakeets in the zoo's big summer blockbuster, Binnowee Landing, tested positive for psittacine beak-and-feather disease, which is contagious and often fatal to other birds, including family pets. The zoo knew about the problem but did not warn visitors until it was reported in the press.

In April 2005, even a grizzly bear naming contest turned into a public relations nightmare when some zoo officials heavily promoted the event while others canceled it, preferring to auction the naming rights to the highest bidder.

Meanwhile, plans were quietly killed for the Great Ape Forest exhibit, highlighted in a $48 million city bond measure approved by voters in 1997 to upgrade the zoo. And four would-be inhabitants - aging wild-born chimpanzees- are still living in a concrete grotto while their handler continues her lonely quest to make sure their rare and invaluable genes are passed on through breeding.

The chimps' longtime zookeeper, Lisa Hamburger, has occasionally appeared at monthly meetings of the Joint Zoo Committee, a city panel that oversees the zoo, to plead her case. As she prepared to speak one afternoon, Mollinedo got up and walked out of the room.

That kind of behavior is no surprise to Mollinedo's current and former employees, as well as those who worked under him at the Los Angeles Zoo, where he was director from 1995 to 2002.

"It would appear that his management style - which downplays the value of staff and the welfare of animals - remains in place," said a former worker from the Los Angeles Zoo.

A departed San Francisco Zoo manager concurred.

"It's a top-down mentality that the zoo has adopted," he said. "And I think it's very dangerous."

Since Mollinedo took over, there has been a steady exodus of employees, including the deputy director, education director, two successive public relations managers, development director, curator of birds, marketing manager, events director, human resources manager, general manager of concessions and a number of veteran keepers.

Michele Rudovsky, associate curator of hoofstock and pachyderms, starting working at the zoo as a teenager but quit in August after more than a quarter-century. Head veterinarian Freeland Dunker also resigned and will depart in early January for the California Academy of Sciences.

Most of those who left, sources say, were fed up or pushed out.

"What walked out the door was 200-plus years of incredible animal experience - and you can't afford that," said former penguin keeper Jane Tollini, who quit in 2005 after 24 years.

Still, she misses her old life a lot.

"The zoo is my home away from my home," Tollini said. "And I felt like it was always an honor, every single day, to go to work and feel accepted by the animals. I could call to one of the lions, one of the gorillas. There was a recognition; they knew my voice. And the little kids who'd go, 'I want to be a penguin' - you just hope to God these kids will get touched, and that they'll look at animals in a different way."

Nanette Taraya-Vonk was on her way to the zoo Wednesday with her children when she heard about the attack and headed for the Oakland Zoo instead.

She summed up the feeling of many patrons when she told The Chronicle: "I know they're going to get a lot of bad publicity after this, but I hope people still go to the zoo. You could cross the street and get hurt. Kids love the zoo."

There's something about the zoo that is magical. It's why many employees who have left want to remain anonymous when they speak out. Some hope to return one day - but under a different administration.

Employees characterize the current regime as arrogant, autocratic and dismissive of those with experience and institutional knowledge. Keepers, who know the animals and their habitats inside and out, say they have little input and are not listened to by Mollinedo and Bob Jenkins, the zoo's director of animal care and conservation. Workers of every variety fear they're being spied upon and will not speak publicly, afraid of reprisals. Even before the Christmas rampage, information was tightly controlled.

For example, a complex lease and management agreement with San Francisco and the Zoological Society determines how the zoo operates. The city owns the animals and the zoo, while the private nonprofit operates and manages everything. Although the public is entitled to see most information, media requests for routine data have been deemed "confidential" - requiring calls to the city attorney's office and public records requests to pry loose.

One ex-employee said worn-down zoo workers would sometimes say: "It won't change until somebody dies."

On Dec. 22 of last year, 300-pound Tatiana severely injured keeper Lori Komejan inside the Lion House, "degloving" her arm, as the state's workplace safety report put it. That agency, Cal/OSHA blamed the zoo, citing defects that the zoo knew about but hadn't fixed, and imposed an $18,000 penalty.

Although tiger experts agree that there was no reason to euthanize Tatiana, Mollinedo described the 4-year-old tiger - a day after her death - as having been "at the top of her game." A former management person at the zoo said, "Here you've got a young cat that's testing her environment - very agile, very strong. A cautious zoo manager would call other zoos and say, 'How big is your moat?' ... This is like having Hannibal Lecter. There's a reason they put that mask on him."

The zoo had reinforced Tatiana's indoor cage after Komejan was mauled - but the fatal attack Christmas afternoon took place in her outdoor quarters.

"That place is a whirling dervish," said a onetime keeper. "And it's ready to spin out of control."

Maybe it already has. The zoo, now grappling with a lawsuit by Komejan, could be sued by the victims' families, lose its accreditation, incur heavy fines or even face criminal charges. City officials are calling for hearings and possible changes in how the zoo is operated.

And it's not at all clear what might have provoked the attack.

"Animals being taunted was always an issue," an ex-employee said. "But you should be able to walk down there slathered in raw meat and not have them get out."

posted December 30, 2007 06:38 PM         

Parents should not encourage their children to visit zoos or aquariums in the name of entertainment. Only when people stop visiting these places then they will cease to exist and money can be invested in enclosing huge land areas as conservation for their safety. No more cages or small confined spaces. I decree this!

Poor Tatiana, God rest her soul...at least she is now free

posted December 30, 2007 09:23 PM         

I do believe Tatiana was provoked to come out of her "enclosure".

The SF Zoo's habitats for the large cats are extremely small and outdated, repressing any fulfillment of a satisfying, natural life.

Even the polar bears, looked miserable when I saw them this summer.......they appear to be 1/3 the size of polar bears that I see on nature documentaries........all they do is lay there on the cement.....next to their dinky pool........bored.

Polar bears are highly pelagic. They have no business being in such a confined, unnatural setting.

The lion I saw appeared malnourished, and had little muscle mass.

The penguins pool was bright green, so thick, you could not see through the water.

IF the zoo is forced to shut down, I only pray the animals get sent to *better* facilities.

posted December 31, 2007 12:12 PM         

Monday, December 31, 2007

(12-30) 21:27 PST San Francisco -- The father of the 17-year-old boy who was killed by a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo said Sunday that he would like to hear from the two young men who survived the attack.

"I would love to talk to them. I would love to hear from them," Carlos Sousa Sr. told The Chronicle.

Sousa was responding to reports Sunday by some news outlets that claimed that brothers Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, and Paul Dhaliwal, 19, had phoned him to say they were sorry and had done everything they could to save his son, Carlos Sousa Jr., in the Christmas Day attack.

But Sousa, reached at his home in San Jose on Sunday night, said he had not heard from his son's friends, who were released from San Francisco General Hospital on Saturday.

"They have not called me," Sousa said. "Last time I talked to them is when they told me my son wasn't with them, and the next day I found out my son was dead, and that makes me a little angry, but there's nothing I can do."

The Dhaliwal brothers have been hostile to police in the death investigation, authorities have said. After the attack, the brothers refused to give their names to authorities or identify Carlos Sousa Jr. They also refused, until Thursday when they were interviewed by police, to give authorities an account of what happened. Police have not revealed details of their interview with the brothers.

The brothers had gone to the zoo on Christmas Day with Sousa Jr., who was supposed to spend Christmas evening with his family. When his father was unable to locate him that afternoon, he phoned friends, including the Dhaliwal brothers, who told Sousa Sr. that his son was not with them.

But authorities say the three friends were together at the San Francisco Zoo around 5 p.m. just outside the open-air exhibit belonging to a 350-pound Siberian tiger when she escaped.

The tiger, known as Tatiana, first attacked Kulbir Dhaliwal, who screamed, and then turned to Sousa, authorities say.

As the tiger mauled Sousa, the Dhaliwal brothers ran away, but Tatiana soon caught up and continued her attack until police shot and killed her - 21 minutes after they received the first 911 call, authorities said.

Sousa died where he was attacked, and the brothers were transported to San Francisco General Hospital with bite and scratch injuries. They were treated for their injuries at the hospital until their release Saturday.

Despite the intense public interest in understanding how the tiger escaped, the two surviving witnesses have not publicly revealed details about what they saw or what they were doing just outside the tiger's grotto.

Some zoo officials have speculated that the tiger may have been taunted, but police have said they have no information indicating Tatiana was provoked.

*******************************************

Again, another article that shows the character of these hoodlums. Obviously they did something wrong and have something to hide.

Channel 4 news reported that the police have found no crime was committed. Just because there is no evidence, doesn't mean they didn't taunt or provoke her. I believe they did and I believe they climbed over the waisthigh railing into her enclosure. Why else would they be hostile with police, not wanting to give any info, and not call the father of their "friend"?

I believe they are ultimately responsible for their friend's death and now they have to live with their guilt for the rest of their lives, and this is why they are not talking.

posted January 10, 2008 01:03 PM         

However, the latest news I heard about this just a few days ago is that the boys will not be charged for provoking the tiger. Even though there was evidence that slingshots may have been used to shoot objects at the pinned up tiger.

If nothing else, and at great expense in the lost of the lives of both their friend and Tatiana, maybe they have learned a lesson regarding animal abuse and that even an animal they perceive as being in a helpless situation will defend itself against attack and danger.

posted January 10, 2008 01:12 PM         

The boy's funeral was 2 days ago, and both "surviving victims" went, but stayed outside, and didn't talk to his family.

So they have never spoken to his family since the incident, they wouldn't cooperate with police after the incident, they stay outside at his funeral, and now they hire Mark Geragos, the notorious lying defense attorney to sue the zoo on their behalf. Yeah, I'd say they have something to hide alright.

I feel that the zoo does believe Tatiana was taunted and provoked; because they now have signs all over stating to respect the animals.

posted January 10, 2008 07:59 PM         

Tiger survivor told dead youth's mother, 'We didn't do nothing'
John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, January 10, 2008

16:09 PST SAN JOSE - One of two young men who survived the Christmas Day tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo that killed their 17-year-old friend told the teen's mother that they had not taunted the big cat, the mother said today.

"He said, 'We didn't do nothing. We were just normal kids at the zoo,' " Marilza Sousa said after talking with her son's friend Paul Dhaliwal, 19, of San Jose.

"That's what happened, just dancing, talking, laughing like normal kids," said Sousa, whose son Carlos Sousa Jr. was killed by the Siberian tiger. "I believe him."

Dhaliwal and his brother Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, were injured when the tiger, Tatiana, escaped from its outdoor grotto shortly before the zoo closed Christmas Day. Police shot and killed the tiger.

Marilza Sousa said Paul Dhaliwal called her Monday night. It was the first time either brother had spoken to her since the attack.

The brothers have so far refused to speak publicly about the incident. Sousa said Paul Dhaliwal had told her he has remained silent because he is still tormented by the incident, not because his attorney has told him not to talk.

"He's in shock," Marilza Sousa said in an interview at her San Jose home. "He doesn't have the chance to think about anything."

An attorney for the brothers, Mark Geragos, contends that San Francisco and zoo officials have tried to smear the Dhaliwals' reputation by suggesting they harassed the tiger.

Dhaliwal told Marilza Sousa that his brother and Carlos Sousa hadn't thrown anything at the tiger or otherwise provoked the animal.

That conflicts with other reports that have filtered out since the incident.

One woman who was at the zoo on Christmas, Jennifer Miller, told The Chronicle that she had seen three young men teasing lions in the big cat grotto about an hour before the tiger attack. She said they had been with a fourth young man, whom Miller later recognized from newspaper photos as Carlos Sousa. She said Sousa had not been teasing the lions.

Sources told The Chronicle that paramedics taking the Dhaliwal brothers to the zoo by ambulance had overheard Kulbir Dhaliwal tell his brother, "Don't tell them what we did."

The sources also said Paul Dhaliwal was intoxicated at the time of the incident, having used marijuana and consumed enough liquor to have a blood-alcohol level above the 0.08 legal limit for driving. The older brother also had been drinking and using marijuana around the time the tiger escaped, the sources said.

Police say they spotted an empty vodka bottle inside the car the group took to the zoo that day, but investigators cannot legally search the vehicle without the Dhaliwals' permission.

A person who picked up the phone today at the Dhaliwals' home hung up without answering questions.

Paul Dhaliwal told Marilza Sousa that the tiger had leaped up the 12 1/2-foot moat wall at its grotto without warning, bounded over a short fence and attacked him first, Sousa said. Her ex-husband, Carlos Sousa Sr., has said investigators told him Kulbir Dhaliwal was attacked first.

According to Paul Dhaliwal, his brother and Sousa tried to distract the tiger, and it lunged for Sousa's neck, Marilza Sousa said.

"Carlos had no chance at all," she said.

Dhaliwal told her the brothers had tried to find help before the tiger attacked again, she said, but, "Nobody showed up to help."

The brothers attended Carlos Sousa's funeral Tuesday in San Jose, wounds from the attack still visible on their heads.

Marilza Sousa hugged Paul Dhaliwal for several long moments at the service and cried.

"It was simply like hugging my son," she said today. "It was like Paul's body, but my son's life ... like my son was the one in that body. It's a mother thing."

posted January 18, 2008 11:59 AM         

Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, January 18, 2008

(01-17) 18:05 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- One of the two survivors of the San Francisco Zoo tiger attack that left a 17-year-old dead told the victim's father that the three had yelled and waved at the animal while standing atop the railing of the tiger's exhibit, police said in court documents filed Thursday.

Paul Dhaliwal, 19, denied throwing anything into the enclosure or otherwise antagonizing the animal, according to an account contained in police investigators' request for a search warrant in connection with the Christmas Day attack that killed Carlos Sousa Jr. of San Jose.

Police armed with the warrant and seeking evidence that the men had taunted the tiger searched the 2002 BMW belonging to Dhaliwal's 23-year-old brother, Kulbir, on Wednesday. They also reviewed the brothers' cell phones for any photos they might have taken before the tiger attacked.

Police said they had recovered messages and images but apparently nothing incriminating in connection with the tiger attack. Investigators seized a small amount of marijuana as well as a partially filled bottle of Grey Goose vodka from the car, according to the inventory that police submitted from the search.

They also found a kit commonly used to defeat drug testing, which included a vial of unisex synthetic urine, police said. Paul Dhaliwal was on probation stemming from a drunken driving incident that occurred before the attack.

The search warrant affidavit was prepared Tuesday by police Inspector Valerie Matthews, the lead investigator in the case, and was filed in San Francisco Superior Court late Thursday.

It cites multiple reports of a group of young men taunting animals at the zoo as basis for a court to grant police the right to search the cell phones and BMW, where police said they had seen the partially full bottle vodka bottle in the front passenger seat.

Both Dhaliwal brothers were hospitalized with head wounds after the maulings. Matthews said in the warrant application that Paul Dhaliwal's blood alcohol level had been measured after the attack at 0.16 percent, twice the legal level for drunkenness. She did not indicate exactly when the test had been conducted.

Kulbir Dhaliwal's blood alcohol level was 0.04 percent, and Sousa's was 0.02 percent, Matthews said.

All three also had marijuana in their systems, Matthews said. The drug can stay in blood for several days, but Kulbir Dhaliwal told police that the three had smoked marijuana and had each had "a couple shots of vodka" Christmas Day before leaving the brothers' home in San Jose, the affidavit said.

Sousa's father, Carlos Sousa Sr., is quoted in the affidavit as saying he spoke by telephone with Paul Dhaliwal after the attack. Sousa Sr. declined to comment Thursday.

According to the elder Sousa's account to police, Dhaliwal told him that he, his brother and the younger Sousa had been "waving their hands and yelling at the tiger" just before the animal bounded up a 12 1/2-foot wall from its dry moat and attacked them.

Paul Dhaliwal - referred to in affidavit by his formal name, Amritpal - "said the three of them were standing on the railing looking at the tiger," Sousa told police.

The 3-foot-tall metal railing is a few feet from the edge of the tiger moat.

Dhaliwal told Sousa that "when they got down they heard a noise in the bushes, and the tiger was jumping out of the bushes" on Paul Dhaliwal, the affidavit said.

"Sousa Sr. said he asked Amritpal Dhaliwal if they were dangling their legs, or throwing things taunting the tiger," the affidavit said. "Sousa Sr. said Amritpal Dhaliwal said they did not."

Matthews said police had found a partial shoe print on top of the railing and concluded that it matched a shoe worn by Paul Dhaliwal.

"This shoe print is a possible indication of Amritpal Dhaliwal standing on the railing to photo, taunt, view or tease the tiger," Matthews said in the affidavit.

Earlier this month, the younger Sousa's mother, Marilza Sousa, said in an interview that Paul Dhaliwal had told her, "We didn't do nothing. We were just normal kids in the zoo."

She added, "That's what happened - just dancing, talking, laughing like normal kids."

It is unclear what Paul Dhaliwal told police as there is no summary of his account in the search warrant affidavit. Police have said they interviewed both brothers.

Paul Dhaliwal apparently was reluctant to talk immediately after the attack, according to Matthews' affidavit.

One of the paramedics who rode with him in an ambulance to San Francisco General Hospital told police she had tried to interview him but that he had said only, "I don't want anyone to know," Matthews wrote.

When the unidentified paramedic persisted, Dhaliwal told her to "just shut up," the affidavit said.

He also denied having a cell phone after first asking the paramedic if she wanted his phone number and laughing, the affidavit said.

The Dhaliwal brothers have hired an attorney, Mark Geragos, who did not return a call Thursday.

Last week, the San Francisco city attorney referred to the police investigation of the attack as inactive. Now, the police search indicates that investigators believe the young men taunted the tiger, a misdemeanor. In seeking the warrant, police said they were investigating whether an unspecified felony had been committed.

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

An autopsy conducted by a zoo veterinarian on the Siberian tiger after police shot it to death showed that the animal had been "very determined to get out," Matthews said. Its claws were broken and splintered by clambering up the concrete moat wall, Matthews quoted the veterinarian as saying.

"This behavior may be consistent with a tiger that has been agitated and/or taunted," Matthews said.

Police found a pine cone and a tree branch in the tiger's outdoor grotto when they searched it soon after the attack, but Matthews said investigators could not determine how long those items had been there, because the zoo's operations director, Jesse Vargas, "told me that they could not answer any questions regarding the tiger and/or the tiger exhibit per their attorney's request."

Sam Singer, a spokesman for the zoo, has said Vargas merely wanted to have attorneys present during any questioning related to the tiger attack. He denied that Vargas or any other zoo official had refused to cooperate with police.

posted February 17, 2008 12:29 PM         

Anyone who's been to the SF Zoo knows that their indoor cages are *small*. Especially for their size. I would be going absolutely stir crazy if I were them.

posted February 17, 2008 07:29 PM         

I guess in many ways life is easier for them in zoos as they are fed regularly without having to hunt for food they may not find. They also have access to medical treatment should they become injured or ill. But zoos seem so limiting to them even when they do have moats and can go outdoors. They are still confined to small spaces.

posted February 19, 2008 04:23 PM         

Thank you for keeping us updated too...

posted March 03, 2008 02:16 PM         

Patricia Briggs

Monday, March 3, 2008

As a San Francisco Zoo visitor for the past 30 years, the heart-wrenching story of Siberian tiger Tatiana and the three young male visitors seemed all too reminiscent of some teenage school groups, many with boorish males, who come to the zoo for all the wrong reasons: for teasing and laughing at the animals who are completely at their mercy. The survivors of this event reportedly admitted to doing just that. It is tragic that a human life was lost, but this whole episode was colored by the context in which it occurred.

When all is said and done, this issue is not so much about the exhibit wall or moat size, as it is about intense emotion in animals, no different than in the human animal who responds impulsively in the "heat of passion" to a stimulus that imbues super strength.

An animal, once used to familiar surroundings, feels secure and wants to stay in them. The lion and tiger grottos at the San Francisco Zoo are part of the old Works Progress Administration exhibits built for big cats. In more than half a century of countless inspections - and nothing terrible like this happening - this catastrophe seems but a freak accident. One has yet to hear of anything tragic happening elsewhere, which begs the question: How safe can a zoo build its barriers without becoming a correctional facility? If someone had left open a back door and a potentially dangerous animal got out, that would be another story altogether.

As much as it is an outrage that a member of a critically endangered species lost her life, it is an equal outrage that not a single word was said of her or her kind. We humans tend to go into hiding when we want to talk of the death of a nonhuman animal when the death of a human animal is associated with it. This is wrong.

Many zoo visitors felt profound sorrow for losing beautiful Tati in such a violent way. They also felt sorry for her companion, Tony, who lost his mate. Others spoke of prosecution under the federal Endangered Species Act, arguably the greatest landmark legislation, wherein the tiny snail darter, a humble fish with no commercial value, prevailed over the mighty Tennessee Tellico Dam. For once, we anthropocentric humans could see beyond the word "resource" and embrace wildlife within the moral arena for being, as John Muir would state, merely "good for themselves."

Siberian tigers, being high profile megafauna and the largest living felid, have not fared better for their appeal. The flourishing, lucrative Asian medicinal trade as well as intense logging in their frigid, mountainous, forested Russian and Chinese range have all but destroyed them. Losing Tatiana was doubly tragic as she would be on breeding loan to propagate her kind.

Last and certainly not least, we must invoke the language of the basic anti-cruelty statute: "... every person who overdrives, overloads, drives when overloaded, overworks, tortures, torments ... any animal, is, for every such offense, guilty of a crime punishable as a misdemeanor or as a felony or alternatively punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony and by a fine of not more than $20,000."

The San Francisco Department of Animal Care and Control is responsible for enforcing the state humane laws. Now that the evidence is in, District Attorney Kamala Harris must be persuaded to act. This case has reached the end of the beginning; now the beginning of the end must be about justice for Tatiana.

Patricia Briggs is a San Francisco resident and a former zoo docent.

posted March 04, 2008 06:50 PM         

Man cited for allegedly throwing acorns at San Francisco Zoo's rhinos
By Linda Goldston
Mercury News
Article Launched: 02/29/2008 03:37:16 PM PST

Two men were detained late Thursday and one cited for... (Rick Murphy/Courtesy San Francisco Zoo)«1»Two months after a Siberian tiger mauled three men at the San Francisco Zoo - resulting in the death of one of them - two other men were allegedly caught late Thursday throwing acorns at the zoo's two black rhinos.
Both men were detained by zoo employees, but only one was cited by San Francisco Animal Control for violating a park code that prohibits disturbing the animals, a misdemeanor.

The man cited was identified as Juan Francisco Zuluaga, 26. Zuluaga must appear in court and could face a fine and sentence of less than a year in county jail, said police Sgt. Steve Mannina, who did not have the name of the other man.

Zoo officials said the rhinos, which are endangered, did not appear agitated by the incident.

"I heard one of the men took a branch from a tree and claimed they were trying to get their attention," said Lora LaMarca, spokeswoman for the zoo. "The branch was from a pine tree and had little acorns; they started throwing those at the rhinos."

The men were visiting the zoo late Thursday when they apparently decided to throw things at the male and female rhinos.

"I'm so glad the system works well," zoo spokesman Paul Garcia said, referring to the emergency hotline phones that were installed after the maulings by Tatiana the tiger on Christmas Day.

Late on Dec. 25, three San Jose men - 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr., who was killed by the tiger, and two of his friends, Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal, who were injured - were at the zoo at closing time when they stopped to see the Siberian tigers.
Zoo and city officials say they believe the men taunted Tatiana before she escaped, but attorneys for the men have said the zoo alone was at fault for housing the tiger in an exhibit that couldn't contain her.

After the fatal mauling, the zoo closed the tiger exhibit to make a number of safety changes, including adding the hotline phones and raising the wall around the big cats' grottoes.

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Contact Linda Goldston at lgoldston@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5862.