View Full Version : Escaped Tiger Kills One, Wounds Two More at S.F. Zoo
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7160113.stm
Tiger attacks visitors at US zoo
The injured victims are described as being in a critical condition
One person has been killed and two others injured after a tiger escaped from its cage at San Francisco Zoo.
All of the victims were visitors to the zoo, a spokesman for San Francisco emergency services said.
The Siberian tiger, named Tatiana, was the same one that mauled a keeper just before Christmas last year. It has now been shot dead.
The incident occurred as the zoo was closing around 1700 (0100 GMT). It is not clear how the cat escaped its pen.
Emergency services spokesman Lt Ken Smith said that they were called to the zoo at 1715 following a report that a person had been attacked by a tiger.
In response the zoo was evacuated and armed police officers and firefighters sent to the scene.
There were not many visitors to the zoo on Christmas Day, and it was dark by the time police arrived.
A police spokesman said officers found the dead body of one of the victims right outside the tiger's enclosure.
Tatiana attacked one of the zoo's keepers last year
Then they saw the second victim, spokesman Steve Mannina told the Associated Press news agency.
He was about 300 metres away, in front of a cafe, sitting on the ground, with blood running from gashes in his head.
Tatiana sat next to him, and suddenly attacked him again, Mr Mannina said.
Officers approached, and fired at the animal when it began to advance towards them.
The spokesman did not confirm, but it was reported the third victim was found in the cafe.
The three victims were men in their 20s, the spokesman said.
Past attack
The two injured people were described as being in a critical condition.
Margie Shafer, a reporter from local radio station KCBS, said that there were unconfirmed reports that the tiger had jumped a moat to make its escape.
San Francisco Zoo is home to both Siberian and Sumatran tigers.
In December 2006, a keeper at the zoo had her arm severely lacerated when Tatiana reached through the bars of her cage and mauled her during a public feeding.
As a result of that attack the zoo built a new feeding enclosure in its Lion House to protect the trainers as they carried out feedings.
I wonder if the 21 foot rule applies to Tigers? :confused:
I wonder if the 21 foot rule applies to Tigers? :confused:
For the tiger ... not against the tiger.
Bulldog1967
12-27-07, 10:01
Sucks when you are not top of the food chain.....:eek:
Gee! In the San Fran zoo you'd think they'd only have Gay Tigers who were raised on a Vegan diet. You don't grow a 300 lb cat on sprouts and soy meat.
QuickStrike
12-27-07, 16:50
I wonder what they shot it with and how the rounds performed...
John_Wayne777
12-27-07, 16:52
Seems now that the story is one of the geniuses was actually inside the enclosure with the tiger and did something to provoke it.....
Yet another "Hold mah beer 'n watch this!!!" moment.
John_Wayne777
12-27-07, 16:53
I wonder what they shot it with and how the rounds performed...
Probably long guns....I dunno what SFPD carries. I know that if I was responding to a tiger on the loose call, I'd be packing the biggest medicine I could get my hands on.
On cnn headline news they've been showing a guy's video ireport whatever of a tiger roaming around what may be the sf tiger grotto. Notice that he climbs down into the moat, and at one point there are two tigers down there, so I wonder if there is water down there?
For Tiger medicine, the .375 H. & H. with 300 grain bullets would be considered by most to be the safe minimum. Lion is one of the African "Big 5" dangerous game, Rhino, Buffalo, Leopard and Elephant being the other four.
I doubt if the SFPD would have anything close to proper Tiger Medicine.
According to the news here, 4 SFPD officers shot the tiger with their depart issued Sig 226 in 40 S&W "numerous" times after the tiger began mauling the 2nd victim. The tiger already killed the 1st victim and hunted down the 2 other victims after they ran 300 yards. The tiger ignored other zoo visitors and followed a blood trail left by 2nd victim. Needless to say "numerous" 40 S&W rds downed the tiger.
The 2 other victims were treated at SF General hospital, they were very uncooperative with medical staff and cops. In other words, jerks. The sh** has hit the fan. This station seems to have the best coverage vs the other media stuff here.
http://www.kcbs.com/
It was probably a Tiger with a history of racially discrimanitory actions.
hahah, that is a good one.:D :D :D
variablebinary
12-28-07, 14:49
Do not feed the animals...
QuickStrike
12-28-07, 18:41
Makes me want to build a .416 rigby on an action I've been stashing away... :o
Voodoochild
12-28-07, 20:02
Well lets see you have caged wild animals who are predators/hunters by nature. Then you have a couple of darwin award winners who decide to intrude into their territory and provoke them. Like Forrest said stupid is as stupid does.
They were stupid, however they are soon to reap a huge pay off for their stupidity. They should be in jail instead. That was a tiger and a half.
John_Wayne777
12-28-07, 22:33
The fact that someone can sue for this is pretty much a sign of all that is wrong with America.
Respose from some fellow Texan.....:D
http://wcco.com/watercooler/tiger.dead.dallas.2.619137.html
DALLAS — A veterinarian at the Dallas Zoo performed a necropsy Thursday on a female tiger found shot to death near an apartment complex, a zoo official said.
The tiger did not belong to the zoo and was believed to have been someone's pet. It was found Christmas Day in a vacant lot near a busy interstate and an apartment complex, said zoo spokeswoman Susan Eckert.
The Department of Agriculture is investigating, Eckert said.
An unidentified caller phoned a city hotline on Christmas Day about a dead animal, Eckert said. A sanitation crew that arrived to clean it up found a full-grown tiger under a blue tarp.
"They knew this wasn't a normal thing to find along the road, so they delivered it to the zoo," Eckert said.
Zoo veterinarian Dr. Thomas Alvarado performed a necropsy, an autopsy for animals. He found five gunshot wounds, including one in the head and one in the thorax.
The tiger was nearly 6 feet long and weighed about 180 pounds. Zoo officials believe it is a Bengal tiger and was "fairly young," Eckert said. It appeared to have been in good health before being shot, although it hadn't eaten in about a day.
The tiger had all its teeth. Zoo officials said they believe it was someone's pet because it was declawed and had a collar around its neck. It also had a leash that appeared to be a bicycle chain, Eckert said.
The zoo will store the tiger's body until federal officials decide what to do with it, Eckert said.
The fact that someone can sue for this is pretty much a sign of all that is wrong with America.
Not only will they sue, it probably will not even make it to trial, they will get a huge settelment.
Lawsuits are dragging the whole country down...:mad:
The latest from the SF Chronicle newspaper. It seems the 2 brothers maybe more involved in their own mauling/attack, because of this they're refusing to talk with the cops.
Police, fire logs in S.F. tiger mauling show scene of chaos, delay
The initial report of a Christmas Day tiger attack was downplayed by San Francisco Zoo employees as the ravings of a mentally unstable person, triggering a slower police response, according to documents and sources.
And when fire crews and police arrived at the zoo, they were forced to wait outside for precious minutes by zoo security guards enforcing an emergency lockdown, emergency dispatch logs indicate.
Meanwhile, Carlos Sousa Jr. lay bleeding at the tiger exhibit for several minutes amid the confusion. It may have taken fire crews and zoo officials as long as 13 minutes from the first 911 call to find his body.
The police dispatch logs released Friday and fire dispatch records obtained by The Chronicle reflect a chaotic scene as zoo officials seemed ill-equipped to deal with a dire emergency.
Emergency responders and zoo officials, for example, spotted the cat moving about freely but waited for zoo employees with tranquilizer guns, according to the logs. Just minutes later, the tiger was viciously biting and clawing one of its victims at a cafe located 300 yards away from the tiger grotto. At the restaurant, police shot and killed the cat.
An obviously tense police Chief Heather Fong refused to take questions Friday during the sole news briefing, saying only that her investigators have "found absolutely no evidence of an intentional release" of Tatiana, the 4-year-old tiger who got out of her grotto, killed Sousa and injured two of his friends.
Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo, equally tight-lipped at the briefing, announced that the zoo will reopen Thursday. "That will allow us to get everything back in order" so the zoo can once again "provide a wonderful experience" for visitors, he said.
He and Fong then hurried back through the zoo gates, declining further comment.
The police and fire logs made available Friday, however, described the horrifying events of Christmas Day in the most detail available so far.
The first 911 call was made from a zoo phone at 5:07 p.m., the fire logs show.
Police now say the call came from a cafe worker, who related what he heard from an "agitated" Amritpal "Paul" Dhaliwal, 19, as he stood screaming outside the closed and locked Terrace Cafe on the zoo's eastern edge. The worker at that point could not even tell the dispatcher whether serious bleeding was involved.
From that account, fire dispatchers obtained a vague description of the incident, saying a lone man "was bitten by an exotic animal," and had suffered a laceration. The caller said he was not with the victim, who was reported as conscious and breathing, according to the fire dispatch logs.
Police were sent at 5:07 p.m., but law enforcement authorities familiar with the incident say the vague nature of that first call meant that the incident was not given immediate priority. One of the first reports on the police log casts doubt on the incident, suggesting that zoo authorities considered the information unreliable.
"Zoo personnel dispatch now say there are two males who the zoo thinks ... are 800 (code for mentally disturbed) and making something up ... but one is in fact bleeding from the back of the head," according to a police log at 5:10 p.m.
Just one minute before, at 5:09 p.m., fire crews on their way to the scene were told the zoo was not safe, the fire log indicates. The police, meanwhile, learned from the zoo "they have a tiger out" at 5:10 p.m. A plan was made to meet security guards at the zoo gate, but then fire crews learned that the gate was locked.
Once at the scene at 5:12 p.m., fire crews were told that zoo security had called a "Code One, meaning they can't let anyone into the zoo," according to the fire log. A "tiger is loose," the log noted again at 5:13 p.m.
Around the same time, the police logs show, the Code One was also preventing police officers from entering: "Zoo security not letting PD in."
That impasse was solved shortly afterward, the logs indicate, and the officers were let in - sometime between 5:15 and 5:18 p.m. The two logs seem to indicate varying times.
Once at the zoo, the fire log noted at 5:15 p.m., fire and police "can (see) the tiger loose" but were "waiting for the guys with the tranquilizer gun."
At 5:21, dispatchers fielded a cell phone call from Amritpal Dhaliwal and then a land line call in which dispatchers instructed him how to control his brother's bleeding. The line went dead at 5:23 p.m.
Fire crews never left their rigs during much of the incident, Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said.
According to the police log, it was about this same time, at 5:20 p.m., that crews made it to Sousa, the 17-year-old who died, outside the tiger grotto - 13 minutes after the first call. The tiger was still loose, and medics were informed that the "scene (was) not secure."
Meanwhile, near a zoo gate at Herbst Road, the emergency teams finally came upon the tiger at 5:25 p.m. - only to have it dash off a minute later. "Tiger out of sight ... don't see the animal any more," the police log reads at 5:26 p.m.
One minute later, the situation exploded.
"Have the tiger, blu on blue," the police log reads at 5:27 p.m., meaning that if one officer (blu) fires his gun, he may hit another officer (blue).
"Have tiger, on foot, attacking victim," came a few seconds later, meaning the tiger was now mauling Amritpal's 23-year-old brother, Kulbir Dhaliwal, while horrified officers watched. They were unable to shoot while the creature was so close to his victim, authorities have said, so they distracted it by shining police car lights on it.
The police log indicates the distraction took 26 seconds. Then for about four seconds, four officers fired at the tiger with their .40-caliber handguns. After that fusillade, the command came over the dispatch system: "Stop shooting."
At 5:28 p.m. one log reads, "shot the tiger at the cafe, vict(im) being attended to."
It appears from both logs that chaos continued - with "bleeding uncontrolled" on one of the victims - until 5:30, when it was noted that fire crews needed police "to move for medics to get through."
For another 15 minutes or more, authorities scrambled to learn whether other tigers were loose. They had no maps of the zoo and no emergency lights.
At 5:29 p.m., one transmission incorrectly indicated, "2nd tiger on Herbst (Road)." At 5:31 p.m., officers reported that they were getting shotgun ammunition.
Two minutes later, the danger was thought to worsen: "Per zookeeper, may be four outstanding tigers," the police log reads. A few seconds after that, dispatchers ordered: "Pull all (units) out of zoo except for units w/victims."
At 5:34 p.m. came the report that "People from (the zoo were) trapped in businesses," meaning they were locking themselves indoors. Squads of police, now armed with shotguns and thermal imaging equipment, proceeded to comb the zoo for other felines.
At 5:46 p.m., it was reported that three tigers were contained and one more might be loose. Finally, four minutes later, it was confirmed that all four were contained.
One minute later, the two surviving victims were transported to San Francisco General Hospital.
After releasing the police log Friday, Fong did not specify what possible criminal charges might be considered. However, her agency is not the only one that could recommend punishments.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, responsible for enforcing the Animal Welfare Act, could impose penalties, including fines, or suspend or revoke the zoo's exhibitor license if it is found that the zoo violated federal regulations on animal enclosures. A federal team has visited the zoo.
While officials pored over details on Friday, Carlos Sousa Sr. said his son may have been too badly injured to be saved, even with a faster and less chaotic response.
"I don't think anything would have saved him at that point," the father said. "If they had got there in five minutes and went directly to my son, maybe they would have had a chance."
Sousa Sr. said he didn't blame the policy that kept firefighters at bay while they waited for a police escort.
"They didn't want to risk their lives," he said. "If I was a paramedic and didn't know the person that was in there, I probably would have done the same thing. I would have waited until I got the OK."
But his son didn't make the same calculation in deciding to try to distract the tiger after it first attacked Kulbir Dhaliwal, Sousa Sr. said.
"For me, he's my hero, because he risked his life to save another life," Sousa Sr. said, his voice cracking with emotion. "That's the most I can say right now."
In memory
A candlelight vigil for Carlos Sousa Jr. is planned for tonight at 7:30 p.m. at 1663 Tampa Court in San Jose, according to the memorial Web page at myspace.com/inmemoryofcarlossousa.
Timeline of response
Drawn from dispatch logs of police and fire response to tiger attack at San Francisco Zoo:
5:07 p.m. First 911 call to emergency dispatch from the zoo, saying a "20-year-old" male has been attacked by an "exotic animal."
5:08 p.m. Police are dispatched, but the call is downplayed as being from someone who is "claiming he was bitten by an animal" even though no animal is missing.
5:09 p.m. Police Officers Dean Lee and Vincent Masilang are dispatched from Taraval Station.
5:10 p.m. Zoo personnel not sure there is an emergency because they believe the two living victims are acting erratically. "Zoo thinks they are 800 (police code for mentally disturbed) and making something up." The report confirms one man is bleeding from the back of the head, and within seconds, police hear from the zoo: "Now they are saying they have a tiger out."
5:11 p.m. Police log says the zoo is closing its gates, and several more officers respond to the call.
5:12 p.m. Fire crews arrive at the gate but are soon barred under the "Code One" emergency declared by the zoo.
5:13 p.m. Zoo authorities inform police they are advising patrons to leave.
5:15 p.m. Fire log says police are on scene and the tiger is visible. "Waiting for the guys with the tranquilizer gun." Police log reflects that medics are unable to get into the zoo, where the victim is still inside and "there are zoo keepers trying to round up the tigers" and "get the tigers with tranks (tranquilizers)." "Medics will not enter until secure," the police log notes.
5:16 p.m. "According to medics, zoo keeps trying to calm down the tiger," police log notes.
5:17 p.m. "Zoo security not letting (police) in. Zoo personnel have the tiger in sight and are dealing with it. The victim is in the cafe in the middle of the zoo."
5:18 p.m. Police are allowed to enter through a back entrance.
5:20 p.m. A victim is located. He has a large puncture wound to the neck, and the police log notes that "medics with him now." It is unclear, however, whether he is actually being treated, as paramedics are told not to leave their rigs.
5:20 p.m. A dispatcher asks whether the victim is being treated by medics, but a supervisor indicates that the scene is not secure. "Vets are out there. ... But the scene is not safe," the log indicates.
5:21 p.m. At the cafe, Amritpal Dhaliwal calls on his cell phone and then on a land line to say his 23-year-old brother has been bitten, and he gets instructions on how to stop the bleeding.
5:23 p.m. The phone line at the cafe goes dead. Police at the grotto indicate that they are treating the victim there and that a zoo staff member is at the scene.
5:25 p.m. Lt. Mike Favetti tells dispatch that he has the tiger "sitting right in front of him inside the zoo," but then loses sight of it.
5:27 p.m. Officers spot tiger at the cafe attacking a victim, fires.
5:28 p.m. "Shot cat, victim with medics." Log indicates victim is suffering uncontrolled bleeding.
- Jaxon Van Derbeken and Kevin Fagan
They need to dust themselves off and move on.
madcratebuilder
01-01-08, 10:56
The fact that someone can sue for this is pretty much a sign of all that is wrong with America.
I agree! The Tiger should have been allowed to finish her meal. If anyone has the right to sue, it should be the zoo for the lose of the Tiger.
I can think of a few reasons why the drive-by media dropped (re: censored) this story.
adolescent males.. nah no way they were taunting the little kitty. And, bloody shoes found inside perimeter.. golly gee, how'd that happen?
Not cooperative witnesses... hmnn... would the truth 1) make them look stupid 2) impead the suit they'll soon have against the city of SF?
Of course the with uber lib mentality of SF being that no one is actually responsible for their actions. It was probably a Tiger with a history of racially discrimanitory actions.
Nicely put.
CNN says rumours that the two surviviors had sling shots on them...
That is disgusting. Instead of getting jail time , they are going to get paid. How wrong is the world.
A good defense attorney is an expert at creating reasonable doubt. However, a slingshot in both parties pockets would be a tall hurdle to overcome...
SF Zoo incident, witness steps forward with claims that the 2 brothers who survived the tiger mauling had been taunting the lions just earlier. see link
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2008/01/03/MN9TU8AGC.DTL&type=printable
HolyRoller
01-03-08, 14:54
CNN says rumours that the two surviviors had sling shots on them...
refusing to talk to PD, press, etc.
now, all lawyered up with some high profile assclown BS legal beagle
figure the odds, Go Tigre!
Assclown ... I'll say. Most lawyers will say and do anything to get on TV, especially Gagogross or whatever his name is. The usual legal rule with extremely dangerous stuff like wild animals, explosives, nuclear power, and other fun things is strict liability, that is, any harm that results is entirely on whoever was running the activity, even if they used all possible safety measures. Whether it's quite that way in California, and whehter it's a defense to liability if the fine young imbeciles were drunk and/or provoking and/or trying to kidnap Ultra Kitty, I don't know.
But in a civil suit, you don't win if you don't talk. If they won't give depositions, their suit will get thrown out. Everything I've heard looks like they won't win squat at trial if it ever gets that far.
Hey, maybe we can get those guys to visit the cobra petting zoo next!
I hope the survivors wounds go septic somehow. They will probably settle with the zoo and not let it go to court where they could lose. you would think that touchy-feely SF would penalize evil humans for harassing one of mother natures children or some crap like that.
it is interesting that the tiger ignored all the other tourists/food and targeted the douchebags that had been tormenting her. i'm having a moment of silence for the tiger. :)
Another thing is how the EMT's wouldn't go in to help the the mauled guys. Hindsight being 20/20, it was good that they did not take unnecassary risks to help those losers - but i wonder if they were scared (not saying I wouldn't be) or maybe they have a policy against taking those sort of risks.
it reminds me of a Rescue 911 I saw some time ago, where an elderly woman was savaged by her sons 2-3 pitbulls. EMT showed up and watched the woman get chewed up through the patio door until the cops arrived.
not trying to be super-critical since i wasn't there. I suppose EMT's aren't equipped to deal with that kind of threat.
wild_wild_wes
01-04-08, 16:47
The Brothers. Such Good Boys
Recent shenanigans: October 9th 2007: Kulbir and Paul Dhaliwal (the two boys with Sousa) were charged with misdemeanor for being intoxicated and resisting a police officer after they were arrested.
Kulbir Dhaliwal allegedly kicked out the security partition between the back and front seats in a police car after being handcuffed in the incident.
After these two get the band-aids off the munch bites out of their respective asses, they have to show up for these charges January 15th 2008.
And:
January 3rd 2008: Jennifer Miller was with her husband and two children at the zoo and saw the Dhaliwal Brothers that Christmas Day.
“The boys, especially the older one, were roaring at them. He was taunting them. They were trying to get that lion's attention. ... The lion was bristling, so I just said, 'Come on, let's get out of here' because my kids were disturbed by it."
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