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Transcripts Show Chaos of Tiger Attack
Associated Press ^ | Dec 30, 2007 | RON HARRIS

Posted on 12/30/2007 12:48:07 PM PST by gitmo

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — As more details emerged about the chaos during a tiger's attack of three young men at the San Francisco Zoo, family and friends mourned the teenager who was killed.

About 100 people gathered Saturday outside the San Jose home of Carlos Sousa Jr.'s grandmother for a vigil. Many held candles in cups and were silent as Sousa's father stood on the doorstep in front of two enlarged photos of him and his son.

"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.

Zoo officials said the zoo would reopen Thursday.

In the wake of the attack, the Oakland Zoo across San Francisco Bay plans to raise the height of the walls surrounding its tiger enclosure.

The concrete wall and chain-link fence surrounding the two tigers range from 13 1/2 feet to 16 feet, and the zoo is deciding how much higher to raise the pen, said Oakland Zoo executive director Joel Parrott. Its tiger exhibit includes a female Bengal tiger weighing 230 pounds and a female Siberian-Bengal mix weighing 305 pounds.


TOPICS: Local News; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: attack; tiger; zoo
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To: WoofDog123

I had that feeling once. I didn’t think they could see but an alligator was looking up at us. I moved us on.


21 posted on 12/30/2007 1:27:22 PM PST by CindyDawg (.)
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To: gitmo

I cannot BELIEVE there is not a readilly-available high-powered rifle on hand at all times in the Zoo Headquarters, just for such emergencies as this. That omission is NEGLIGENCE. Waiting on the cops? Pathetic. HELLO LAWSUIT!


22 posted on 12/30/2007 1:40:01 PM PST by 2harddrive (...House a TOTAL Loss.....)
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To: SkyDancer

Later reports, and the police chief’s statement, corrected that. The shoe was found outside the enclosure.


23 posted on 12/30/2007 1:40:08 PM PST by savedbygrace (SECURE THE BORDERS FIRST (I'M YELLING ON PURPOSE))
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To: 2harddrive

In another thread it was reported that staff were going around looking for her with guns and medication but the cops found her first.


24 posted on 12/30/2007 1:44:08 PM PST by CindyDawg (.)
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To: SkyDancer

The “bloody shoe” story appears to be zoo propaganda put out to deflect blame. There was no shoe. All the victims had their shoes on ~ unless, of course, the tiger managed to kill and eat somebody we don’t know about.


25 posted on 12/30/2007 1:45:50 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: hkp123
“...lawsuit”?

Maybe for this idiot being born.

26 posted on 12/30/2007 1:46:58 PM PST by onedoug
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To: gitmo
I’m surprised they were able to find the tiger in 20 minutes.

Not so surprising. An eyewitness had identified the suspect as a large cat with stripes on its coat.

27 posted on 12/30/2007 2:01:05 PM PST by Jeff Chandler ("Liberals want to save the world for the children they aren't having." -Mark Steyn)
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To: i_dont_chat
I’ve often wondered why the big zoos do not keep water in the moats in those big cats and bear cages.

Disease from stagnant water? I would think the cost of water purification would convince management to opt out of moats.

28 posted on 12/30/2007 2:15:54 PM PST by LoneRangerMassachusetts (<I>)
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To: Jeff Chandler

lol


29 posted on 12/30/2007 2:19:19 PM PST by CindyDawg (.)
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To: gitmo
Interpreting this data demonstrates that the zoo personnel were acting entirely logically, once one accepts their fundamental philosophical premise: The animal can do no wrong.

Misanthropy in San Francisco is virtually ubiquitous. From the start the investigation focused upon how the victims may have instigated the attack, never mind the sub-standard enclosure.

30 posted on 12/30/2007 2:26:57 PM PST by Carry_Okie (Grovelnator Schwarzenkaiser, fashionable fascism one charade at a time.)
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To: LoneRangerMassachusetts

Most likely it is a cost factor. Still, water is often part of exhibits for polar bears and hippos, no too mention for the various sea creatures like seals and water fowl.


31 posted on 12/30/2007 2:39:56 PM PST by LenS
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To: randog

Somebody may do so. They have bred shortlegged domestic cats, just Google Munchkin Cats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBO2U7SZ5qs&feature=related


32 posted on 12/30/2007 2:42:46 PM PST by kalee
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To: WoofDog123

“a tiger choose to look at me”

I had that experience at the Detroit zoo. No one else noticed, but a tiger fixed his eyes on me, and intense fear gripped me, as I wondered if he could clear the moat and the fence. I didn’t say anything to my Dad who was with me, but you may be sure I moved right on to the next exhibit.


33 posted on 12/30/2007 2:42:59 PM PST by RoadTest (Free Compean and Ramos now! Then exonerate them. Then shame their persecutors!)
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To: RoadTest

At the San Diego Zoo, 27 years ago, an Alaska Brown Bear fixed me in its gaze and followed ‘til I was out of sight.

It was recognizably the same look I give a succulent deer over my rifle sights. And I was VERY conscious of being unarmed.


34 posted on 12/30/2007 3:25:45 PM PST by Libertas aut Mortis (Christian, conservative, heterosexual Canadian, Any Questions?)
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To: Libertas aut Mortis

One time about 2:00 AM in the pub a beer eyed moose looked at me. The lights came up. I felt like prey. It was uncomfortable.


35 posted on 12/30/2007 3:34:59 PM PST by kinghorse
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To: savedbygrace

ok - seems lots of revisions coming on this ....


36 posted on 12/30/2007 3:36:54 PM PST by SkyDancer ("There is no distinctly Native American criminal class...save Congress - Mark Twain")
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To: muawiyah

hey - could happen ...maybe that shoe was there from a previous feed ...>grin<


37 posted on 12/30/2007 3:37:41 PM PST by SkyDancer ("There is no distinctly Native American criminal class...save Congress - Mark Twain")
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To: Libertas aut Mortis
At the San Diego Zoo, 27 years ago, an Alaska Brown Bear fixed me in its gaze and followed ‘til I was out of sight.

It was recognizably the same look I give a succulent deer over my rifle sights. And I was VERY conscious of being unarmed.

One should always be armed, even though it might be only with a handgun. It may prove to be a serious discourager, if a dangerous animals escapes its enclosure. Who knows, one might even get lucky.

38 posted on 12/30/2007 3:38:06 PM PST by nonsporting
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To: 2harddrive
I cannot BELIEVE there is not a readilly-available high-powered rifle on hand at all times in the Zoo Headquarters, just for such emergencies as this.

Absolutely, and with a tranquilizer dart.

39 posted on 12/30/2007 3:51:03 PM PST by Cobra64 (www.BulletBras.net)
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To: RoadTest

I suspect our simian (and/or possibly more recent) ancestors developed specific triggers for large cats deep in pre-history that are still residual in our brains today which you and I are describing being evoked.


40 posted on 12/30/2007 4:06:39 PM PST by WoofDog123
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