Ever since a rare Siberian tiger named Tatiana escaped its enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo (my first zoo!) and mauled two brothers after killing a third man, news sites have listed the story in their various “top ten” boxes, for most emailed, most popular and most blogged. Who knew there was a Sepia angle to this captivating, contradiction-filled tale? An anonymous tipster did, and they just rang up the mutiny; it turns out the two survivors are desi.
First, the deets:
The big cat exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo was cordoned off as a crime scene Wednesday as investigators tried to determine whether a 300-pound Siberian tiger that killed a visitor escaped from its high-walled pen on its own or got help from someone, inadvertent or otherwise.
Police shot the animal to death after a Christmas Day rampage that began when the tiger escaped from an enclosure surrounded by what zoo officials said are an 18-foot wall and a 20-foot moat. Two other visitors were severely mauled…
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 and a frequent guest on TV, said such a leap would be an unbelievable feat, and “virtually impossible.”
“There’s something going on here. It just doesn’t feel right to me,” he said. “It just doesn’t add up to me.”
Instead, he speculated that visitors might 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. [KTVU]
Tatiana is the same tiger who attacked a zookeeper almost exactly a year ago, during a public feeding. In that situation, the Zoo was found to be at fault, not the tiger, which is why she wasn’t put down. As many have pointed out on message boards and in news articles, “she was just acting like a tiger”. In this latest, deadly attack, some have asked why an animal which is extremely endangered wasn’t tranquilized instead of killed. The zoo had a team which was capable of that, but the police responded first and did what they felt they had to:
The body of Carlos Sousa Jr, 17, was found with a slashed throat near the exhibit.
The other two victims, brothers age 19 and 23, who accompanied Mr Sousa to the zoo, were said to be present when the tiger escaped.
It is thought they fled, leaving a trail of blood which the tiger followed…
The four-year-old cat, Tatiana, attacked one of the brothers before police were able to distract the animal and shoot it dead. [Telegraph]
There has been much conjecture about whether a board was lowered to help the tiger (!), whether they dangled body parts over the enclosure to tease it, and whether blood and a shoe were found inside the tiger’s stomping grounds. Finally, there are a few answers:
New information about the SF Zoo tiger attack has been released by police chief Heather Fong. Based on information gathered from the two survivors, brothers Paul Dhaliwal and Kulbir Dhaliwal, Carlos Sousa Jr. actually saved one of them from being killed. Apparently, when Tatiana originally went after one of the brothers, Sousa courageously tried to draw her attention away from his friend, which worked (obvi).
Fong also clarified that there was indeed no shoe found inside the waist-high fence that is intended to keep visitors and tigers from interacting. However, a shoe print that was found on the fence may provide more information on whether or not Tatiana was taunted by the threesome. [SFist]
Predictably, they are in the process of comparing the print with the victims’ shoes. Ek other problem/development:
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. [SFGate]
Well, that potentially answers how a tiger miraculously jumped out, doesn’t it? In case you missed it the first time, actual desi names of the victims, next:
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. [SFGate]
Golly, you think? It turns out that the wall is four feet lower than what experts recommend for such enclosures.
The confusion over the grotto’s size is only the latest headache for investigators looking into the attack, which happened shortly after the zoo’s 5 p.m. closing time. The zoo has no video cameras that watch over the animals, making it difficult to piece together how Tatiana, a Siberian tiger, escaped. And sources close to the investigation tell The Chronicle that the surviving brothers have not been entirely forthcoming during interviews with police. [SFGate]
If I had just been mauled by a tiger which killed one of my closest friends, I might be a bit quiet, too. I’m just saying. The Dhaliwal boys are lucky:
Doctors at San Francisco General Hospital said the brothers are recovering but will have to remain hospitalized for several more days. Chief of Surgery Dr. William Schecter said he was optimistic they would make a full recovery, although there still is a risk of infection.
“They should be able to walk out of here (when they are releasd),” he said. [SFGate]
Developing…
A N N A, why do you hate zoos so much? I have noticed an anti zoo agenda on SM wafting through the posts, much like the scent of wildebeest dung in the air around the African Savannah enclosure. Disprove.
We love zoos. Where do you think we pilfered our simian staff from?
They should swap their tigers with this lion
Brown people should do a collective exorcism. There is too much bad news for a holiday season.
I knew it. Lot of Desiphobia up in Siberia. A Bengali Tiger would’ve never done this.
lets pause for a moment to pray for the soul of the person who died
Eerily like a scene from “Cat People” .
If I read any stories of PETA demanding an apology for shooting a tiger that was killing people, I am going to go on a all veal and foie gras diet for the next month to protest their protest.
Hilarious!
BTW, I’m anti-zoo too. Caging animals and other wildlife in claustrophic spaces for public viewing is barbaric imo. I refuse to support it.
the injured brothers were injuns
7 · ShallowThinker said
Yeah, that’ll learn ’em.
4 · Manju said
Wrong. Here is a recent news story about a Bengali tiger mauling a man. Warning : The image is the article is gruesome
11 · Priya said
Well, if he did that to an Indian; he may be Bengali, but he’s an Uncle Tony in my book.
Yup, Bengal tigers are well known for regularly attacking humans (Bengalis or otherwise) in recent times as their habitats are being eroded.
hehe.
someone, yes there is something very fishy. Take a look of the final photograph just minutes before she died. Look at her neck. How could anybody have got such a perfect aim at her neck without being a professional ?
Oops.. I meant to post this comment on the Bhutto post.
I’ve seen all kinds of bad behavior (e.g. taunting, tossing bread and wrappers into enclosures) at zoos in India and almost always in full view the staff who don’t care to intervene. I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often. Modern man has lost his sense of danger when encountering predators….I guess we think that they are just animatronic figures at Rainforest Cafe. I have friends in Silicon Valley, it’s hard to imagine that it is within the realm of possibility that they might get eaten by a wild mountain lion while having a wine & cheese party in Los Altos Hills. Even with all your hot startup co. X stock options you just end up Grade A prime for some kitty protesting suburban sprawl
I can’t say i’m too fond of zoos either.
I saw the interview of the parents of the boy that was killed, so sad as it was their only son and what a horrid memory to have this happen on xmas day.
Honestly, as bad as it is to be mauled or see a loved one mauled by a tiger, why were they taunting a predator like a tiger, one who has evolved to effectively tear, maul, and rend? Seriously. You don’t mess with things that can kill you like that. Why you’d be taunting it is completely beyond me.
I, for one, have a healthy respect for any creature with fangs and claws. Taunting it would be the last thing on my mind.
if it was after closing time why were the 3 of them still in the zoo?
I’ve to my fair share of zoos and seen the Bengal or the Royal bengal tigers, never came across a bengali tiger.. Are you guys saying that these tigers were fluent in the language Bengali? LOL
Either thats a big blooper or your a comic genius.
*you’re
18 · BlackCat said
Umm, because they thought the wall was high enough?
I don’t profess to speak for Anna specifically, but I know that Anna isn’t the only person here who has mixed feelings about zoos. I recognize that zoos provide several valuable services: I can go and see animals I wouldn’t normally see all in one convenient place, and zoos are often the last place of refuge for a lot of endangered animals. (In fact, they say that the total population of tigers in American zoos is larger than the natural populations in many of their original habitats.) However, I feel a great bit of pain when I think about the animals being locked up, especially in small areas. For example, the Philadelphia Zoo is one of the nicer zoos I’ve been to, but their cat house was pitifully small, and some of these large majestic cats were in cages not much bigger than my closet. I actually feel ashamed and embarassed.
And I have to admit that while I don’t feel anything but heartache at the death of Mr. Sousa, I do tend to feel a bit of atavistic glee when I read news stories about animals that have broken free from their confinement at the zoo are trying to escape.
zoos are atrocious jails for animals that should never be caged. As for the tiger, good for it. It did what it was supposed to, and IF the boys were taunting it, I think natural selection was given a chance so often denied in this day and age.
see also : http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/002304.html#comment28142
Don’t hate upon zoos – agreed there are a lot of crappy ones, but they’re also a last resort for breeding very endangered animals. I actually dislike the Seaworld orca aquaria more than ordinary zoos, since orcas aren’t really endangered.
“I think natural selection was given a chance so often denied in this day and age.”
Arranged marriages?
Jokes apart, humans being able to taunt tigers in cages without fear is natural selection at work isn’t it – natural selection that favors intelligence over raw power.
Respect and condolences to the family of the boy who died. Sad story all around =/
Manju, I really laughed over “Uncle Tony” — thanks for that 🙂
From their names, it sounds like the (surviving) boys are Punju.
18 · BlackCat said
Ah.. you’re one as those female people, right? Lady/women/girl I’m guessing.
Let me give you a little insight into my people, the boy/guy/man/cave people.
Tiger in cage or enclosure + teenage boys = taunt, take chances, aggravate and watch the reaction.
Electrical outlet + boy = place long thin object, preferably metal into outlet.
Large tree with dead creaky limb + boy = go out on limb and jump up and down on it while friends watch from the ground.
Small foreign land far from home with lots of precious resources + powerful guy in charge of another country = invasion/mess/hell hole/how do we get home without looking like pussies.
It’s a guy thing, you wouldn’t understand. I don’t understand the thrill of shoe shopping. Same thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGvLtypnIiE&NR=1
I know plenty of males and none of them feel the compulsion to taunt hapless animals in a cage.
So you think meena, so you think. Observe them when no female (they know) is watching and you’ll see a different side.
Of the things Kevin G mentioned, I have done the metal-in-electrical-socket and the tree limb ones.
Also, bengali tigers play cricket…sri lankan tigers…probably a similar result.
I’ve tinkered with electric sockets and trees but I wouldn’t ever think of taunting an animal in a cage or setting fire to dogs, which I don’t even consider in the same category at all of “manly things to do”. It may be my background, but disrespect or cruelty to mute and helpless animals disgusts me no end.
On the subject, much too many things are passed off as “things men do” and if you don’t do them, you’re considered less of a man. To me, nothing less manly than conforming to designated “manly” things.
29 · Kevin G said
And here I was spending my life thinking that the “guy” thing to do is to be protective and respectful of the environment and the life that inhabits it. I remember my dad showing me how to use a scrap of newspaper to scoop up a lost caterpillar and setting it in the grass where it belongs. Tsk Tsk. Thanks for informing me. Stupid dad teaching me unmanly ways of compassion. I think I’ll go and kick a dog or two.
I think it may not be a “guy” thing after all. It may be “how a person is raised” thing
Crap!! the quote is all messed up. What did I do wrong?
Had the wall of the enclosure indeed been 18 feet tall, as was recommended to the zoo a few years back, this tragedy would not have happened. It was more like 12 feet and some, a verifiable fact which the management did not know about until after the tragedy.
I think it is surreal (and tragic) that you go to a zoo, and find yourself actually being attacked by A TIGER. It’s just so crazy to even think about. We have such a strong sense of safety and security when we go to these places…that’s the whole point…and to find that a ferocious animal could just jump out and maul you…it’s analagous to being on a rollercoaster and then halfway through the ride being hurtled fullspeed into the air because the safety harness isn’t working. It’s just not supposed to happen that way.
I agree the tiger just acted like a tiger. And debating whether zoos are legitimate or not doesn’t seem to be the main point here….the main point is, there is negligence here on the zoo’s part. Of course, they shouldn’t have teased the tiger…although I did stuff like that when I was a kid (and 17 is a kid).
8 · someone said
Which is more barbaric, allowing mankind to eliminate an animal’s habitat, thus eliminating the animal, or putting a few in a zoo, thus protecting the animal?
I agree with these psots.
I don’t think it’s exclusively a male thing. I’ve stuck things into electrical outlets, and climbed various rickety looking objects and nearly fallen off. Once I nearly impaled myself on a broken branch, all for the sake of climbing a tree, simply because it was there.
Taunting a tiger, on the other hand, or possibly throwing in a board or what-have-you, is just, plain, stupid. Tigers can kill. Trees generally can’t.
And deserving of a Darwin Award.
i’m not a big fan of zoos, but as my marine biologist friend argued once – zoos and aquariums provide common folk with exposure to wildlife, thus creating some level of empathy and acknowledgement – this can translate to donations/public support for conservation. the term he used was “flagship organism”.
doesn’t erase the fact that this argument implies that a few of these creatures will suffer for the rest of them, almost like martyrs if you will.
I suppose the new advertisement for SF zoo reads ‘Dining with Tigers – bringing down the walls between species’
I too am conflicted about zoos. While they resemble prisons, they do sensitize a lot of lay folk about the animal kingdom, which helps wildlife considerably. Also, if a tiger had access to a complete risk-benefit analysis, she might, quite rationally, choose to live in a zoo – what with all the poachin’ n stuff, ya know.
Someone, you say
Ironically, getting mauled while taunting a tiger is natural selection at its very best. Intelligent human, but perhaps not quite intelligent enough, huh?
Err, how do you ‘taunt’ oe even ‘tease’ a tiger? He’s an animal. Does he even understand human taunting? Or does he say,”these homosapiens are teasing me, I’m going to jump them as they’re starting to really piss me off?
41 · BlackCat said
Haven’t you just broken a female rule, admitting that women are as capable of the same stupidity as a male. I may need to post this on the internet. Oh wait, I just did. I think the other women may not be too fond of you. As a male, I salute you.
I have to agree with Kevin G and homonid. If they were taunting the animal or placed a board into the pit (none of which is established), it may have been a classic case of “I dare you to do that” or the infamous “You don’t have the balls to step into the lion’s den” not to mention the ubiquitous “Don’t be such a little girl”. These lines and others are responsible for a great deal of misery, hurt feelings and broken/damaged limbs. Usually, guys outgrow certain elements of this thinking but the competitive aspect of male relationships sometimes make for interesting times. And often deserving of a Darwin award.
It has been my experience that both the male and female genders are equally capable of stupidity. Women, however, aren’t likely to have a competitive relationship that results in taunting tigers, tossing boards into tigers’ dens, and things like that. That isn’t to say we don’t compete. Of course we do. It tends to be much more personal with women, in my experience.
Anyway, I don’t want to start a men vs. women argument or anything like that.
My main point was that if you are taunting a tiger, helping it to escape from its enclosure, or entering its enclosure (unless you’re a zookeeper or animal trainer or something to that effect… someone with the training to deal with animals), you definitely deserve a Darwin Award, regardless of your motives.
Watch the speed and athletic power of this tiger attack. Amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LjG7S8aqJg
19 May, 2004… True Story behind the Kaziranga National Park – Tiger Attack – The Complete Video.
The forest department was combing the area with five elephants to locate a large female tiger which had killed two cows near their village. The team cautiously moved almost 20 feet where she was growling away. They took a shot at it with a dart gun and missed. This enraged the tiger so much that she charged and took a “flying” leap 12 feet above the ground on to the elephant’s head. What’s even more amazing is what happened next.
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I think there is some bug with the feature when there are nested blockquotes i.e. you are quoting a comment that is quoting another.
Some reported that the two Dhaliwal brothers are very wild in their neighborhood. They are due in court for some misdemeanors related to their disorderly conducts…
Too bad the tiger didn’t have a chance to finish the job and help out the society.