Public hearings on tiger attack
2008-01-11 15:48
San Francisco - Mayor Gavin Newsom says he hopes public hearings beginning on Friday will produce answers about how a tiger escaped at the San Francisco Zoo and killed a teenager on Christmas Day.
"There needs to be a narrative that everyone understands to make sure this never happens again," Newsom said on Thursday.
The mayor said he has asked zoo administrators to tell him the truth about any inaccuracies previously reported, such as the zoo's erroneous initial reports which suggested the tiger enclosure's wall was higher than it really was.
"I have every expectation that zoo management has been forthright and honest," Newsom said.
The Recreation and Parks Department Commission hearing is the first of a series planned to examine what happened the day of the attack and how to improve zoo safety. Police are still investigating.
Zoo officials have suggested that the tiger was provoked before it escaped.
"To our knowledge, nothing like this has ever happened before," zoo spokesperson Sam Singer said. "Animal experts have said as well it's unusual for an animal to leave its enclosure unless it's been provoked."
But the mother of the teen killed by the tiger says one of two friends injured in the attack told her that none of them had done anything to taunt the animal.
Marilza Sousa spoke with Paul Dhaliwal by phone on Monday, their first conversation since the attack, the San Jose Mercury News reported on Thursday.
'Didn't taunt tiger'
Sousa said Dhaliwal, 19, told her the tiger jumped over the fence while the trio was talking and tore a long gash in his skull before wrapping its jaws around the throat of her 17-year-old son, Carlos Sousa Jr, killing him instantly, the newspaper said.
Dhaliwal's 23-year-old brother, Kulbir, also was mauled but survived. Police officers killed the tiger.
"Did you stick anything through the fence or taunt the tiger?" Sousa said she asked Paul Dhaliwal.
"No," he reportedly said. "We never tried to taunt the animal. We were talking, laughing, walking, nothing else."
The Dhaliwals, who attended their friend's funeral on Tuesday, have said nothing publicly about what happened on December 25. Their lawyer has repeatedly said they did nothing to goad the animal.
- AP