Not sure if anyone heard about or remembered the 12/25/2007 tiger attack here at the San Francisco Zoo? here's an update to that story (I bolded certain parts):
SAN FRANCISCO -- A female Siberian tiger killed in a hail of police gunfire after fatally mauling a man at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day 2007 was probably provoked into leaping and clawing out of its enclosure, a federal investigator said in documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The tiger, named Tatiana, killed 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr., of San Jose, and injured his friends, brothers Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal, also of San Jose.
The attack left claw marks etched in the asphalt and claw fragments in the bushes outside its pen. Claw marks were also discovered near the top of the enclosure wall, which was lower than federal safety standards dictate, showing that the big cat was able to get enough leverage to pull itself out.
"It appears the tiger was able to jump from the bottom of the dry moat to the top of the wall, and gain enough purchase over the top to pull herself out over the moat wall," wrote Laurie Gage, a tiger expert who investigated the scene for the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which oversees the nation's zoos.
"With my knowledge of tiger behavior, I cannot imagine a tiger trying to jump out of its enclosure unless it was provoked," Gage wrote in the Dec. 27, 2007, draft of her report.
That statement was struck from the final version of the report because it was "irrelevant from an Animal Welfare Act enforcement standpoint," said David Sacks, a spokesman for APHIS.
Whether or not the tiger was provoked has long been a point of contention.
After sitting with its prey for a short time, Gage wrote, Tatiana likely followed the Dhaliwals' blood trail for about 300 yards and then resumed her attacks. Photographs showed blood-smeared asphalt where the tiger apparently dragged Sousa's body.
The documents, provided to the AP more than three years after a Freedom of Information Act request, offer the first public glimpse into the findings of the APHIS investigation and details from the scene written by some of the officers who killed Tatiana.
But little was revealed in the documents that hadn't already been discussed by the public and in legal settings.
In the months after the attacks, San Francisco police had to end their investigation of the San Jose brothers. Police suspected the young men had taunted the tigers, but lack evidence to support those claims.
The San Francisco Police Department had said it would "resume the probe pending new witnesses," but no new witnesses ever came forward. Police also had previously looked at the brothers' cell phones for possible pictures before the attack and found nothing.
In more than 65 years, no other tiger had escaped from that enclosure. San Francisco Zoo officials now say the enclosure should have been safer.
Because the zoo was about to close, "Nobody was there to witness "... just the people who were there and the tigers," said Lora LaMarca, a zoo spokeswoman. "We cannot prove the animal was provoked, and regardless of that, she was able to jump out, which led to a whole series of renovations to that exhibit, which makes sure this will never happen again."
The USDA fined the zoo $1,875 for violations associated with the flaws in the tiger enclosure that allowed Tatiana to escape, and for one unrelated violation.
The agency's findings show the tiger jumped from the moat right in front of an area where a path had been worn through plants meant to provide a sight barrier. According to the reports, the zoo complained that people often pushed through the plants and leaned over the enclosure, sometimes even putting their children on its rim.
USDA's investigators said they found "
some sticks, foreign to the exhibit, and at least one pine cone inside the tiger exhibit indicating that someone may have thrown these items into the enclosure at the tigers."
The Dhaliwal brothers denied provoking the big cat,
though Sousa's father told police that Paul Dhaliwal had admitted to being drunk and yelling and waving at the animal.
A coroner's toxicology report found alcohol and pot in Sousa's bloodstream at the time of his death.
Both Dhaliwal brothers have had numerous run-ins with the police before and after the tiger attack.
After the attack, Paul Dhaliwal served 16 months in state prison for violating the terms of his probation. He also pleaded guilty to battering a police officer earlier in 2007. The next year, he pleaded no contest to a grand theft charge related to a shoplifting arrest. He later served 10 days in jail in 2009 after pleading guilty to lying to an officer about his identity.
His older brother Kulbir served 10 days in jail in 2008 after pleading guilty to resisting arrest and public drunkenness. He was arrested twice in 2009, once on suspicion of possessing cocaine and once for driving while under the influence. He pleaded guilty to the DUI charge.
An attorney for Sousa's parents, Michael Cardoza, called the theory that the tiger was provoked "mere speculation" that would not hold up in court.
"Keep in mind, these are animals,'' he said. "Who knows why they do anything?"
Sousa's parents settled their wrongful death lawsuit for an undisclosed amount, and the brothers settled their lawsuit for a reported $900,000.
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