A Shocking Tiger Attack at the San Francisco Zoo
As police entered the scene, they came across the first victim, seventeen-year old Carlos Sousa, who died at the scene. Three hundred yards later, they found the tiger sitting next to one of it's victims who was crying, "help me, help me." As the officers tried to distract the animal away, the tiger turned away from the victim, and moved towards the officers, who then shot and killed her.
Within hours of the incident, speculation was being floated about by the news media that the men had somehow taunted the animal. Regardless of whether or not this was true, it did not answer the more important question of how the animal could have gotten out of its cage. I have been to the zoo many times, and seen the exhibit firsthand. With only 33 feet between one side of the grotto to the other, it seems as though patrons are very close to the animals. However, there is a large gap separating them; a 20 foot wide moat. From the bottom of the moat to the top of the visitors side is a high wall that was first reported to be 20 feet high. What separates the top of that wall from the visitors is a waist-high fence.
The tiger, a four year old Siberian tiger named Tatiana, was the same one who had attacked a zoo keeper almost exactly a year earlier. In that incident, the zoo keeper had just finished feeding Tatiana and had apparently reached for something inside the animal area. As terrified patrons watched, Tatiana mauled the keeper. Various media reports describe the attack various ways, from causing deep lacerations to her arms to the tiger tearing the flesh off the zoo keeper's arms. In interviews at that time, the zoo's director of animal care and conservation, Robert Jenkins, told the San Francisco Chronicle that it would not be "normal procedure" to put an animal down for this kind of behavior. Jenkins also added that Tatiana had no history of aggression towards humans.
As the details of the most current incident came to light, several startling facts were revealed. The first was that Carlos Sousa had died while trying to save his friend. The San Jose teenager went to the zoo with two friends, Amritpal "Paul" Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23. The brothers told police that the tiger's first victim was actually Kulbir Dhaliwal. When Paul Dhaliwal and Carlos Sousa tried to distract the tiger, it turned on Sousa instead, clawing him fatally in the throat. As the Dhaliwal's ran for help, the tiger tracked them over three hundred yards to the Zoo's Terrace Cafe, perhaps following the victims' trail of blood.
The second was that the fence was not twenty feet high as the zoo initially reported. Instead, it was measured after the accident at twelve and a half feet. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums has a standard of at least 16 feet, 4 inches for such exhibits.
Finally, the area surrounding the tiger grotto has been declared a crime area. Among the details: a shoe print was found on the railing of the visitors fence, and a sign on the other side of the visitor area was spattered with blood. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, sources have also said that Tatiana's hind claws showed signs of wear and stress, which could indicate that she had scaled the concrete wall. Police Chief Heather Fong states that the shoe print will be compared against the shoes the victims were wearing to see if any of them match.
Although the surviving victims hold the answers to many of the questions of how and why this tragedy could have occurred, they are apparently not cooperating with investigators. It has been reported that after the attack, the brothers refused to give any details of what happened, refusing to provide their own names, or even the name of their dead friend.
There are many pieces that need to be put together before the story of what actually happened that night can be determined. It will likely turn out that there is not a single party at fault. Whether the victims provoked the animal into an almost impossible feat of strength, whether the zoo should have had higher fences, or even whether that tiger was particularly aggressive towards humans could all be used to assign blame. Instead, it would seem that all three factors came together to create a perfect storm that cost one young man his life on Christmas Day.
Published by Jo Frances
I am a freelance writer who covers a variety of subjects, primarily in fashion and the entertainment industry. View profile
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10 Comments
Post a CommentI have never posted a comment on any blog site, but feel compelled to do so now. I feel for the parents, but I cannot for the life of me understand whyt he 3 individuals who had all night, morning and day before this incident occurred, to think about what they wree going to do for that day in question. OK, I am going to wake up, call my buddies, drink some vodka, smoke some marijuana, bring along a sling shots, AND last but not least, go to the zoo. Come On!!!!!! I think the eveidence presents itself, not counting the shoe print on the top railing. I know I was not raised up to do idiotic things as such. I was taught to respect all animals and people. I feel for the Tiger because she lost her life becuase of certian individuals who decided to act like bone heads on that particular day which resulted in a tragic incident. I pose a question from humnans from all walks of life. You are at the zoo with your young child, you have certian individuals entering a scetion of the park wh
Will someone please update me on the facts of this. I friend told me, this morning, that the boys had slingshots. Since then, I have read many conflicting reports. I certainly don't believe the boy's attorney. It seems intuitive to me, that the tiger must have been provoked, but I would like to have that substantiated. It is so sad, that a beautiful animal like Tatiana, had to live in captivity and then die from a gunshot. I feel for the boy's family, as well, despite his possible culpability. Anyway, if anyone has more info, please email me at phil5111@zoominternet.net.
Thanks.
Since I wrote this piece, the Dhaliwal brothers have hired Mark Geragos to represent them, and, you're right Kenneth, they did find an empty voldka bottle in the car and slingshots on the men. Unfortunately, it won't matter. They will be very, very rich soon.
they didn't want to give the details because it's hard to say, yes, we taunted the tiger and were throwing things at her and harrassing her. Those will be the facts that turn up, you just wait and see.
It's very sad what happened to the tiger. As is always the case the poor animal which did not even choose to be there pays with it's life. The three young men in question, must have bothered the tiger, otherwise why would it attach a. just them b. not attack anyone else earlier in the day/year. My sympathy lies entirely with these magnificent creatures that we ill-treat.
Great article, thanks for the details. To Mo: Yes protecting the wildlife is our responsibility, but protecting human life is the greater responsibility and that tiger proved herself a danger. By the same token, if it is proven those boys were harrassing her, they should be charged and held accountable for all that happened there.
Poor Tatiana. GOD BLESS HER. Tigers need our protection and care. She should never have been shot, and on Christmas Day of all days. This is such a tragedy.
No wonder tigers are becoming extinct.
What a great loss of a beautiful animal. My heart goes out to her.
I see irresponsibility on the part of the zoo. This is ridiculous and I am furious that a 17 y/o kid was killed. I am a lover of tigers, but this one should have been put down when she attacked the zoo-keeper. That was inappropriate behavior then. The tiger must have been under distress at that time as well. Great reporting!!!
I am sorry, but how Tatiana could have escaped is NOT more important than whether she was taunted.
If we're keeping endangered animals in zoos, shouldn't we be assigning security guards to protect them from the public ... instead of hoping police show up when the public taunts the animals?
From what I've heard on the news, the father of the "victim" said, "It doesn't matter whether they were teasing her. They could have been, you know, throwing rocks at her. This should not have happened."
Excuse me? You're bringing up your kids to think it's okay to throw rocks at animals?
I read about this chilling story earlier, but you did an awesome job of pulling all the details from various reports together. Also, I did not previously know that the two surviving men were not willing to even give out basic information and also did not know that Sousa was attacked when trying to help his friend. All in all, a horrific incident!