Police: Tiger attack victim was drinking, admitted taunting

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- 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

More?

Police: Tiger attack victim was drinking, admitted taunting - CNN.com

Slowly the "truth" begins to surface!

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"Destiny must be shaped and not left to mere chance."..Spencer Collins ..

You knew it would.....

Zoos should have signs that say "We are not responsible for your immature actions"...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

I do not care if the victim was teasing the tiger with a ham sandwich,mooning the tiger or throwing rocks it,the fact is the Zoo is supposed prevent the animals they house from escaping.Just like you are supposed to keep your dogs from escaping your property so they don't maul pedestrians on the sidewalk or street.The fact that it hadn't previously escaped with the inadequate fencing,pits and so on is just luck. Because the that tiger or the next tiger to inhabit that tiger area may escape because it figures it can escape and attack small child or adult that looks like a tasty tiger treat or something.You don't leave a large dog in a plain picket fence area just you figure it hasn't escaped the yard the first couple of times you leave it alone in the picket fence yard and complain that someone walking buy it looked at the dog funny and that is why it escaped and mauled that guy and several other people.

The zoo blaming the victims is absurd and a cheap ploy to avoid attention for not adequately housing their zoo animals.

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"There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”—Theodore Roosevelt

Zoos should have a sign that says we are too cheap to adequately prevent the animals from escaping so enter at your own risk and keep your children close because they may look like tasty predator treats to some of our animals.

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"There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”—Theodore Roosevelt

Zoos suck anyway. They should be torn down. Sea aquariums too. You can find out more about animals on the discovery channel then you will ever get looking at caged wild animals. And besides they aren't here for our entertainment,

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Talking about music is like dancing about architecture

I think most people would rather look at animals in real life instead of tv and a zoo is a much cheaper and sure way to see animals.


Are you a member of PETA?

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"There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”—Theodore Roosevelt

That admission just undermined their case in court. I still think the Zoo is going to be required to raise the retaining wall another 4 feet to the recommended 16 ft. height.

I hate to see animals in captivity like this and I hate to see an animal on the endangered species list killed due to taunting.

I was at the San Diego Zoo and was watching their Greyback 450 old male gorrilla doing forward and backward rolls so people would throw peanuts out to him. A bunch of mischieveous teenagers tossed out a piece of wood. He threw it like a frizbee right back at them at deadly force! People can act stupid at zoos because they think they are protected by cages and retaining walls.

The problem with this case is the word "recommended"...

If there was some "Zoo Federation" that REQUIRED fences to be a certain height, then they would've obviously violated that rule and be held responsible...

But if it's only "recommended", then the standards aren't concrete and may not hold up in court...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

Regardless of the taunting and drinking, the zoo is responsible for keeping dangerous animals contained. Period.

In terms of liability and the amount of damages awarded, that can be mitigated if the men put themselves in harm's way. However, the zoo still has culpability.