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…
I am guessing that the scant amounts of flesh on our bodies compared to animals renders us quite inadequate. Unless, by “we”, you mean Americans.
If I remember Jim Corbett a man-eating tiger is an anomaly – not the norm. A tiger never attacks humans unless if it feels threatened. A wild cat does not seek humans as its first source of prey. If you look at the case in question the Tatiana was not eating the victim it was just lashing out. However, once a wild cat gets a taste of human meat then all bets are off.
45 · bulbul said
Catch him by his toe, duh!
63 · atool said
Not only that, but they were probably starving in the jungle, anyway. (You seem to have an excess of autonomy. Please send whatever you don’t need to me; I promise to make good use of it. Thanks.)
90 · frank poirrier said
Get in line.
92 · Vikram said
That clause is already on the books. Unfortunately, there has been a pause in enforcement.
18 · BlackCat said
Clearly, these boys made the wrong choice. It was Christmas–they should have been getting gouged at the mall, not mauled at the zoo.
99 · Camille said
Camille, that was a nice one. Was the “Bengali” Tiger inspired by Eric Blair of Animal farm who was co-incidentally born in Bengal. Do you think there is some Bengali conspiracy on SM ?
First of all – my condolences to the boy who got killed family.
What are three teens doing at a zoo on Christmas Eve evening? It is conjecture, but since the two survivors are being uncooperative, I would guess they were taunting the tigers. Does it feel powerful to tease animals that you think can’t retaliate? If they were looking for thrills…I guess they got the thrill of their life.
Stupid asses got exactly what they deserved.
105 · mary said
You pegged it Mary. They were on a “jack-ass” style thrill ride. The enclosure was sufficient since 1940 until these ass-holes pushed it to the limit. And the end result was the death of an Siberian tiger and a moron. There are very few Siberians, but the world is full of morons. There also little hope for many cats, but zoo’s are fighting to breed these animals and keep the pure breed from going extinct. I know many zoo workers and they are dedicated professionals committed to helping animals and educating the public which–I am convinced from many of the above comments–is about as hopeless as saving the Siberians.
My condolences go out to the families of people who think death is the proper ending to swinging your leg at a animal. Dealing with you people should be added to one of the levels of hell. What is the difference between a person believing a women should get stoned to death if she is accused of adultry and a person who thinks death is the punishment of waving a body part at a animal that is 30 feet below you and 40 feet away from you? NOTHING. Your both nuts.
“What are people doing at the zoo on Christmas eve?”
What the hell kind of question is that? Because Punjabi Sikhs and immigrant Mexicans are known for Christmas carroling on that holy day before the Big J’s birthday, right?
I am 24 years old and if I want to go look at a damn monkey in the zoo I am going to go and look at one! What the hell is wierd about that?
Me, I’m all on Tatiana’s side. What were those kids THINKING? You’re going to deliberately and intentionally tick off a WILD ANIMAL nearly the size of a SMART car (granted quite a bit less weighty but FAR more muscular and infinitely more intelligent) and expect it’s going to turn out well? These are WILD, HIGHLY DANGEROUS ANIMALS and the only reason they are in zoos to begin with is because we humans used our intelligence to put them and keep them there because we’re ostensibly so much more intelligent then they are. When humans put their guard (intelligence) down, this is what happens. Those dumb kids didn’t use their brains, and well, the law of the jungle took over. IMHO, they should’ve known better and I have less sympathy for them than I do for Tatiana, who was one of less than 600 or so of her species alive today as opposed to the 5 BILLION or so of her aggressors.
Stoning for adultery is society run amock. We can introspect, change our views and change society. A tiger biting at limbs that are presented to it is nature…not good, not evil just nature at work.
I will say that maybe it is a bit premature to say anything about taunting. The only verified fact now is that the enclosure was not built high enough. I personally have found the Darwin Awards to be in bad taste, I don’t want to take glee in someone’s death. Especially if their failing was stupidity rather than cruelty. That being said if they did do something to provoke the attack, it will have a bearing on how people spend money to mitigate the risk of recurrence. You can make a best effort to protect the public, but there will always be outliers who don’t have sense and tempt fate
“Stoning for adultery is society run amock. We can introspect, change our views and change society. A tiger biting at limbs that are presented to it is nature…not good, not evil just nature at work.”
The act of nature is not wrong, the joy that people express in the death of a human being is. That is society running amock. A person who is 17 years old and out of that 17 years he did something unusual for 5 sec. and people think he should die. And that us IF he did provoke the animal.
Sorry me firend, but that is crazy.
What mistake did the man make? All he did was pay the price for getting entangled with a female who decided to run amok in California after throwing away what she perceived as the shackles surrounding her.
Rahul – was this a cross post regarding Anu Solanki and her excursions in California?
Paging pingpong!
oh cmon now, rahul. Hold your bat phone. Before you call on that cloaked arbiter of all things sarcastic, u should know that comment was obviously sarcastic given the recent comment fumbling incidents. I will now pack up my suitcase of obviousness and head to another town before pingpong unleashes her fury.
Rahul, what is it with you and all your one-on-many relationships with the women of SM? A more-salacious-description-than-thou match with portmanteau, and a one-level-more-meta match with non-sequitur (who BTW would prefer me not to talk about Alanis), and briefly sparring over the state of your health with Camille? How on earth are you going to help Puli see the aircraft carrier through the fog?
Oy vey! I bat for the other team.
Me male. Me have beard. And deep voice.
Dude, I’m a dude too. No beard. But deep voice nonetheless.
I know all there is to know about the crying game
Hey, pingpong, you can join too. You can even jump to the head of the queue if you want to meet me in the deserted woods I plan to go to so I can worship my trunk, er, Ganesha respectfully.
Maybe one day we can engage in activities of Congress together and provide Larry Craig some company now that he is the sole survivor of the Singing Senators. I hope you have a positive stance on this idea.
If nothing else, I think Rajni and the macacas have a simian conspiracy brewing here at the mutiny. 🙂
Dearest ping, Call me a traditionalist, but my appreciation for Rahul does not extend to the Rahul lovefest/orgy. Speaking of Puli, where has that boy gone?
Dearest ping, call me a pathbreaker, but my appreciation for Rahul does extend to a lovefest/orgy.
Well, after Puli‘s escape from the zoo, he was confounded by the fog and instead of the intended aircraft carrier, got on a boat instead.
I suspected as much, but this insinuendo by portmanteau praising your subtlety threw me off track.
May I also say that insinuendo suits portmanteau’s moniker?
I like to think I can be glad someone’s back without wanting to jump their bones 🙂 Maybe I’m not that highly evolved, though.
And port is quite the champion of innuendo. Also a champion of the usage of portmanteaus, go figure 🙂
out of curiosity as to what PETA actually DID say after reading the ignorant, reactive comment above, I found the following link. basically, they’re saying that it’s unnatural to constrain big cats in zoos, which seems like quite a reasonable position to me.
http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/san_fran_zoo
“Urge the San Francisco Zoo to Permanently Close Its Tiger Exhibit
“Just as the San Francisco Zoo was closing on December 25, a 350-pound Siberian tiger named Tatiana escaped and mauled three zoogoers. One person was killed, and police shot and killed the tiger. Tatiana is the same tiger who attacked a zookeeper and chewed on the keeper’s arm during a public-feeding demonstration a year ago.
“Scientists at Oxford University have concluded that big cats become neurotic when they are confined. Given that the average tiger enclosure is about 18,000 times smaller than the animals’ natural roaming range, it is simply impossible for these animals to express instinctual behaviors, such as staking out territory in dense forests, choosing mates, running, climbing trees, and hunting.
“Since 1990, there have been more than 220 such incidents—in 40 states—involving big cats. Four children and 15 adults have lost their lives, and more than 50 other people have lost limbs or suffered other injuries after being mauled. The animals involved are victims too: 75 big cats, including Tatiana, have been killed because of these incidents.
“The San Francisco Zoo has already established itself as a facility that takes animal welfare issues seriously. In 2004, the zoo made the honorable decision to close its elephant exhibit and send its elephants to a sanctuary. Using the form below, please contact the zoo director and urge him to make the same compassionate decision for the zoo’s three remaining tigers.”
You did notice I was gone for a while and am now back, right? Just sayin’…
Dearest Ping, I see you’re being quite the narada muni here, and creating trouble between me and the fair Camille. It seems like teasing can get you into a world of trouble these days. And as far as Rahul is concerned, he appears to have changed his stripes. Your fearful symmetry must be so mesmerizing, since the only tiger he wants to grab by the tail seems to be you. Of course, it’s only natural that two pious tambrahm tigers would retreat to the forests for intense rites pertaining to
murugamurga worship.Worst idea (and name) for a separatist group, ever. 😀
Rahul may have changed his stripes, but after that tongue lashing you gave me, I had to change my shorts.
I did notice! I’m sorry, Amitabh, did I not tell you I am happy to see you commenting again? If not, I’ll say it now — I’m glad you’re back 🙂
port, fear not, I know we’re still on for drinks next time we’re in the same geography 🙂
pingpong, gross!
What? I’m easily startled!
Thanks Camille…though I’m not sure if you got what I was getting at…you know, bones, jumping, etc (cough cough)…
Just kidding! Sort of (wink).
Not to be the one to put a damper on things but portions of a recent AP report on the tiger attack put things in a sobering perspective. Excerpted directly from a recent AP article: (I would have linked to the article but I’m having computer issues)
“I would like to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for coming here and honoring my son Carlos. My son Carlos was a very good boy” said Carlos Sousa Sr., choking back tears. “I can see that he had a lot of friends here. I want you all to remember the good things that he did and carry this with you in your hearts for as long as you can.”
A 350-pound Siberian tiger killed Sousa Jr. and seriously hurt two of his friends after escaping from its enclosure. Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, were released from the hospital Saturday. The brothers suffered severe bite and claw wounds.
Police said Sousa Jr.’s neck was slashed while the teen tried to scare away the tiger after it attacked Kulbir Dhaliwal. Sousa, 17, died at the scene just before the zoo’s closing time on Christmas Day.
A funeral for Sousa is scheduled for Jan. 8 in San Jose.
Police radio transcripts revealed a chaotic scene at the San Francisco Zoo as zookeepers scrambled to locate and sedate the animal, and medics refused to enter until they knew they would be safe.
Zoo employees also initially questioned whether early reports of the attack were coming from a mentally unstable person, according to an 18-page log of communications from police dispatchers to officers and emergency responders at the scene.
According to the logs, zoo personnel initially told police that two men reporting the escaped tiger might be mentally disturbed and “making something up,” though one was bleeding from the back of the head.
Two minutes later, at 5:10 p.m., zoo employees reported that a tiger was loose and, at 5:13 p.m., the zoo was being evacuated and locked down as fire department responders arrived.
For several minutes, medics refused to enter the zoo until it had been secured. Meanwhile, zookeepers were trying to round up what they initially believed to be multiple tigers.
“Zoo personnel have the tiger in sight and are dealing with it,” reads a 5:17 p.m. note on the transcript.
The transcript does not indicate when police or emergency responders entered, but by 5:20 p.m. medics had located one victim with a large puncture hole to his neck. The tiger was still loose.
As medics attended to the victim, an officer spotted the tiger sitting down before it fled and began attacking another victim, according to the logs.
At 5:27 p.m., less than 20 minutes after the initial reports were made, the officers began firing, killing the tiger.
It was unclear whether letting police and medics into the zoo sooner would have altered the outcome of the attacks or subjected emergency responders to greater danger with a tiger on the loose.
It has become increasingly clear that the tiger climbed over the wall of its enclosure, which at just under 12 1/2 high was about 4 feet below the recommended minimum for U.S. zoos.
Sorry, should have previewed it to see how it read. Everything after the parenthesis is all AP.
Folks, a request. Just because I am on my back doesn’t mean you should jump my bones.
I’ll buy the drinks so I can watch.
Camille, just so we clear, what he’s saying is that he will immerse a Ganesh idol with you anywhere, if you know what I mean.
Shallowthinker. you rock.
Anyone who doubts how high a siberian tiger can jump, look at 3 min 22 sec into this clip (warning: the clip is not for the faint of heart…seriously. It shows the cruel practice of feeding live animals to siberian tigers at a park in China).
For those interested, the link to the complete AP article is: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gEclFYG2_eqGTpkeD4OknwUlgqEgD8TRTN0O1
I got it, I was being willfully obtuse 🙂
Whoa there, kids. There will be no Ganesh-immersing, thankyouverymuch!
Jangli Jaanwar, it’s still not clear what the boys did (if anything) that riled up the cat. Weird that it was there for so long in that zoo, on far busier days, and never tried to escape before. Only on Christmas Day? After closing time? What could those kids have possibly done to provoke it like that? Maybe we’ll never know.
Camille, the whole point of SM is to apply all the good things we learn about here to our own lives! Only the good things of course…like tiger teasing (wink…usde vi do matlab ne…)
“Camille, you are a woman of the world, what’s it like?”
Rahul..OUCH! If I’m coming across like the guy in that clip, I take back ALL my winky comments! In fact, usda ikko hi matlab si!
Amitabh,
I speculated up-thread that any taunting, if it occurred, may have been the result of the men daring one another to a foolish act. As young men sometimes do. We’ve all been young and done something that we may cause us to wince at that memory. The only people who will ever know what started off that chain of events that led to the attack are those kids and that’s only if one assumes they riled the tiger up. That video you found surely demonstrated that the tiger could easily have made the leap, if the tiger chose to do so. Maybe, that tiger had enough of being in a cage. Sadly, that’s all Mr. Sousa, Sr. is left with – maybe’s. I think the posters who made these comments above should have the guts to say this directly to Mr. Souza:
Stupid asses got exactly what they deserved.
You pegged it Mary. They were on a “jack-ass” style thrill ride. The enclosure was sufficient since 1940 until these ass-holes pushed it to the limit. And the end result was the death of an Siberian tiger and a moron. There are very few Siberians, but the world is full of morons.
Regardless of whether one believes these kids or young adults (to me anyone under 23 is still a kid) put things in motion, the fact remains one man died heroically to save another. Doesn’t seem like a moron to me. Seems like a brave young man. I’m all for the environment and saving endangered species, but in this situation, to place the blame on these young men seems so wrong when there is a whole host of errors that allowed a death to occur. A) the height of the wall b) the unwillingness of zoo officials to believe an attack was occurring c) the delay it took for medics to even arrive on scene and then enter the park. From the AP report, close to 20 minutes passed before the tiger was subdued. Does anyone think that these kids were sitting there taunting this animal the entire time? More likely, they were running for their lives. I’d rather have that “moron” alive, even if it meant the death of one Siberian tiger.
BTW, didn’t mean to get onto a rant and disrupt the very enjoyable ganesh-immersing Camille thread. Will I be able to purchase the video of that here on SM? $19.95?
This I agree with 100%.
Wow, I would love to see you all (Rahul, portmanteau, pingpong, Camille, Amitabh, et al.) awkwardly meet in real life. Though I’m not sure I would want to stay to see what happens after that. 🙂
You’d think it would be awkward, but there is something about sustaining a months-long conversation with a group of people which counteracts that. We really try to keep this online conversation stimulating and fun, anomalous, sweeping and baseless generalizations about “regional differences” aside.
It is interesting to consider that if a regular left an ignorant comment as their first instead of their 100th contribution to the discussion, they would have been banned. One of the many advantages of having a commenting history is that you are more likely to be given the benefit of everyone’s doubt.
144 · nala said
Oh, we’ll be a bunch of happy
bonobos, er, macacas.Huh? I later clarified what I meant. I offered that there were several reasons I could be wrong/over-generalizing, and I accept that it gets dangerous if we stereotype or essentialize. I re-read my original comment, and yeah, the implications are pretty bad, I apologize for that. But honestly, I don’t think it’s a completely ‘baseless’ generalization in the diaspora.
I can’t tell if it itches, or burns 😛
I think we would have fun (no innuendo intended), barring any agoraphobia or intense personality failures 🙂
Oh, we’d all gang up on a random guy named Ganesh and dunk him in a pond. Then we might go and catch a movie.
Except that there would be a heated debate about whether or not we should go watch The Crying Game.
87 · non-sequitur said
They can hope all they want but the buck(eyes) are way too slow compared to the tigers. Jan 7th will be a repeat of the Christmas day mauling.