Zoo attack tiger 'was taunted'

2008-01-18 09:51

San Francisco - One of the three victims of the San Francisco Zoo tiger attack was intoxicated and admitted standing atop a railing of the big cat enclosure and yelling and waving at the animal that would later maul them, killing his friend, police said in court documents.

Paul Dhaliwal, 19, told the father of Carlos Sousa jnr, 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.

The affidavit, which requested a search warrant for the surviving victims' cell phones and car, also cites multiple reports of a group of young men taunting animals at the zoo, the Chronicle reported on Thursday.

Taunted

"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 snr, said Dhaliwal told him the three stood on a one-metre-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 papers said Paul Dhaliwal told Sousa's father that no one was dangling his legs over the enclosure. Authorities believe the tiger leaped or climbed out of the enclosure, which had a wall a metre shorter than the recommended minimum.

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 on Thursday by The Associated Press for comment. He has repeatedly said they did not taunt the tiger.

Calls to Sousa's father and Michael Cardoza, an attorney for the Sousa family, also weren't returned.

Alcohol, marijuana

Toxicology results for Dhaliwal showed that his blood alcohol level was 0.16% after the attack - twice the legal threshold for drunkenness - while his 24-year-old brother Kulbir Dhaliwal's blood alcohol level was 0.04% and Sousa's was 0.02%, according to Inspector Valerie Matthews, who prepared the affidavit.

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 December 25, the affidavit said.

Zoo spokesperson Sam Singer 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."

- AP