Speculations about the victims taunting her are now being investigated. The surviving victims are not cooperating with the investigation and it has been reported that an empty vodka bottle and a slingshot were found on them.
My initial thoughts of this being human error do not erase the fact that a 17 year old lost his life as well as this 4 year old tiger. If the truth comes out that these two brothers were at fault, I hope they will be held accountable for both murders.
I read that an incident with the cat happened a few years ago and the zoo upgraded the accommodations to include a more secure housing facility for the tigers. Brings to mind a debate of whether these animals should be held in captivity for amusement and profit or left alone in the wild.
RIP Tatiana
Re: RIP Tatiana
I have been following her story as well....I hope justice is brought and that Tatiana finds peace in her new world...
Re: RIP Tatiana
I'm more inclined to believe the guys taunted her, mainly because she's been there all this time, and never "escaped" her fence before, and she was well fed and was NOT hungry or in attack mode earlier. Something is definately amiss here, and if the guys aren't cooperating, it's likely they can't get their stories straight.
As for the other "incident"....the media can't seem to get the reports right. Some of them report the handler sued the zoo, others report the handler didn't. I heard an interview with a zookeeper expert who actually knew and he said the handler told the zoo that Tatiana was not doing anything wrong, the handler had her arm in the way and Tatiana got too close. DUH.
I hate when these things happen. If zookeepers cannot protect the animals (and the people), they should be securing their habitats, and enforcing rules for visitors. Its bad enough the animals are there, they need to be protected too.
It breaks my heart that Tatiana met this demise, run wild and free sweet girl....
As for the other "incident"....the media can't seem to get the reports right. Some of them report the handler sued the zoo, others report the handler didn't. I heard an interview with a zookeeper expert who actually knew and he said the handler told the zoo that Tatiana was not doing anything wrong, the handler had her arm in the way and Tatiana got too close. DUH.
I hate when these things happen. If zookeepers cannot protect the animals (and the people), they should be securing their habitats, and enforcing rules for visitors. Its bad enough the animals are there, they need to be protected too.
It breaks my heart that Tatiana met this demise, run wild and free sweet girl....
..........Traci
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gurl2005bby
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Re: RIP Tatiana
I never heard about this... What happen anyway? Or is there a web site that talk about this?
Re: RIP Tatiana
My former sister-in-law worked at the zoo in Tucson...MANY years ago, the Polar Bear handler was mauled by the male bear...she insisted that they NOT put him down and when she was able to, she returned to work...with the polar bears....
She had forgotten to double check the double doors that protected her from the bears, when she went in to clean, and she was in "his" territory and he attacked....she admitted fault and took blame....
I too, tend to believe that she was taunted....elsewise why should she even try to escape and attack anyone...she had it made, as far as zoo creatures go...
At the same zoo in Tucson, the lioness would walk up against the fencing at the employee side of the enclosure, waiting for her ears to be scratched....heck, I even scratched her ears a few times when I was at work with my SIL...
Even though they are wild animals, they have learned to trust humans for their basic needs and care....they do not just attack for the heck of it...but even so, a responsible keeper never lets their guard down either....
I am finding all sorts of stories online, but I cannot find anything consistent to provide a link for....if you google tiger attack you will find conflicting stories...
She had forgotten to double check the double doors that protected her from the bears, when she went in to clean, and she was in "his" territory and he attacked....she admitted fault and took blame....
I too, tend to believe that she was taunted....elsewise why should she even try to escape and attack anyone...she had it made, as far as zoo creatures go...
At the same zoo in Tucson, the lioness would walk up against the fencing at the employee side of the enclosure, waiting for her ears to be scratched....heck, I even scratched her ears a few times when I was at work with my SIL...
Even though they are wild animals, they have learned to trust humans for their basic needs and care....they do not just attack for the heck of it...but even so, a responsible keeper never lets their guard down either....
I am finding all sorts of stories online, but I cannot find anything consistent to provide a link for....if you google tiger attack you will find conflicting stories...
Re: RIP Tatiana
It's just so sad. First they are caged when they were never meant to be and then they get punished for being themselves. Even if she wasn't taunted, she is a wild animal and it is the zoos responsibility to make sure she cannot escape. None of it was her fault.
Re: RIP Tatiana
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22719922/?Gt1=10755
SAN FRANCISCO - One of the three victims of San Francisco Zoo tiger attack was intoxicated and admitted to yelling and waving at the animal while standing atop the railing of the big cat enclosure, police said in court documents filed Thursday.
Paul Dhaliwal, 19, told the father of Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, who was killed, that the three yelled and waved at the tiger but insisted they never threw anything into its pen to provoke the cat, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle.
"As a result of this investigation, (police believe) that the tiger may have been taunted/agitated by its eventual victims," according to Inspector Valerie Matthews, who prepared the affidavit. Police believe that "this factor contributed to the tiger escaping from its enclosure and attacking its victims," she said.
Sousa's father, Carlos Sousa Sr., said Dhaliwal told him the three stood on a 3-foot-tall metal railing a few feet from the edge of the tiger moat. "When they got down they heard a noise in the bushes, and the tiger was jumping out of the bushes on him (Paul Dhaliwal)," the documents said.
Police found a partial shoe print that matched Paul Dhaliwal's on top of the railing, Matthews said in the documents.
The affidavit also cites multiple reports of a group of young men taunting animals at the zoo, the Chronicle reported.
Mark Geragos, an attorney for the Dhaliwal brothers, did not immediately return a call late Thursday by The Associated Press for comment. He has repeatedly said they did not taunt the tiger.
A call to Sousa also wasn't returned.
Alcohol, drugs found in boys' systems
Toxicology results for Dhaliwal showed that his blood alcohol level was 0.16 — twice the legal limit for driving, according to the affidavit. His 24-year-old brother Kulbir Dhaliwal and Sousa also had alcohol in their blood but within the legal limit, Matthews wrote.
All three also had marijuana in their systems, Matthews said. Kulbir Dhaliwal told police that the three had smoked pot and each had "a couple shots of vodka" before leaving San Jose for the zoo on Christmas Day the affidavit said.
Police found a small amount of marijuana in Kulbir Dhaliwal's 2002 BMW, which the victims rode to the zoo, as well as a partially filled bottle of vodka, according to court documents.
Investigators also recovered messages and images from the cell phones, but apparently nothing incriminating in connection with the tiger attack, the Chronicle reported.
Sam Singer, a spokesman for the zoo, said he had not seen the documents but believed the victims did taunt the animal, even though they claim they hadn't.
"Those brothers painted a completely different picture to the public and the press," Singer said. "Now it's starting to come out that what they said is not true."
SAN FRANCISCO - One of the three victims of San Francisco Zoo tiger attack was intoxicated and admitted to yelling and waving at the animal while standing atop the railing of the big cat enclosure, police said in court documents filed Thursday.
Paul Dhaliwal, 19, told the father of Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, who was killed, that the three yelled and waved at the tiger but insisted they never threw anything into its pen to provoke the cat, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle.
"As a result of this investigation, (police believe) that the tiger may have been taunted/agitated by its eventual victims," according to Inspector Valerie Matthews, who prepared the affidavit. Police believe that "this factor contributed to the tiger escaping from its enclosure and attacking its victims," she said.
Sousa's father, Carlos Sousa Sr., said Dhaliwal told him the three stood on a 3-foot-tall metal railing a few feet from the edge of the tiger moat. "When they got down they heard a noise in the bushes, and the tiger was jumping out of the bushes on him (Paul Dhaliwal)," the documents said.
Police found a partial shoe print that matched Paul Dhaliwal's on top of the railing, Matthews said in the documents.
The affidavit also cites multiple reports of a group of young men taunting animals at the zoo, the Chronicle reported.
Mark Geragos, an attorney for the Dhaliwal brothers, did not immediately return a call late Thursday by The Associated Press for comment. He has repeatedly said they did not taunt the tiger.
A call to Sousa also wasn't returned.
Alcohol, drugs found in boys' systems
Toxicology results for Dhaliwal showed that his blood alcohol level was 0.16 — twice the legal limit for driving, according to the affidavit. His 24-year-old brother Kulbir Dhaliwal and Sousa also had alcohol in their blood but within the legal limit, Matthews wrote.
All three also had marijuana in their systems, Matthews said. Kulbir Dhaliwal told police that the three had smoked pot and each had "a couple shots of vodka" before leaving San Jose for the zoo on Christmas Day the affidavit said.
Police found a small amount of marijuana in Kulbir Dhaliwal's 2002 BMW, which the victims rode to the zoo, as well as a partially filled bottle of vodka, according to court documents.
Investigators also recovered messages and images from the cell phones, but apparently nothing incriminating in connection with the tiger attack, the Chronicle reported.
Sam Singer, a spokesman for the zoo, said he had not seen the documents but believed the victims did taunt the animal, even though they claim they hadn't.
"Those brothers painted a completely different picture to the public and the press," Singer said. "Now it's starting to come out that what they said is not true."