S.F. tiger attack likely provoked, documents say

[warrior1]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41548098/ns/us_news-life/



This undated file photo provided by the San Francisco Zoo shows Tatiana, a female Siberian tiger, in her exhibit at the zoo. Tatiana was killed in a hail of police gunfire after fatally mauling a man at the zoo on Christmas Day 2007.

SAN FRANCISCO — A female Siberian tiger killed in a hail of police gunfire after fatally mauling a man at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day 2007 likely was provoked into leaping and clawing out of its enclosure, a federal investigator said in documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The tiger named Tatiana killed 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. and injured his friends, brothers Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal, leaving claw marks etched in the asphalt and claw fragments in the bushes outside its pen. Claw marks were also discovered near the top of the enclosure wall, which was lower than federal safety standards dictate, showing that the big cat was able to get enough leverage to pull itself out.

"It appears the tiger was able to jump from the bottom of the dry moat to the top of the wall, and gain enough purchase over the top to pull herself out over the moat wall," wrote Laurie Gage, a tiger expert who investigated the scene for the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS, which oversees the nation's zoos.

"With my knowledge of tiger behavior I cannot imagine a tiger trying to jump out of its enclosure unless it was provoked," Gage wrote in the Dec. 27, 2007 draft of her report.

snip

[virgogal]

1. What an absolutely beautiful animal. Sad.

[AtomicKitten]

2. Of course the attack was provoked. Those drunken bastards taunted the cat.

And then the pieces of shit turned around and sued the city settling for just under a million dollars.

:grr: x 100,000,000

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AzNick]

6. Yes, maybe, but the enclosure was poorly designed

No matter what the reason for the attack, the family of that idiot still have a case and it's spelled chaching!

[Hell Hath No Fury]

8. As someone who grew up in San Francisco -

and went to that zoo several times a year for 42 years -- spending time in front of that very same enclosure -- I somehow managed to escape a tiger attack. In all the years the zoo has beed open she was the only cat to ever get out of her enclosure. She must've wanted out REALLY badly.

[AtomicKitten]

14. I spent many an afternoon enjoying Tatiana. She was a beauty.

--------------> :cry:

[northernlights]

9. no tiger escaped in 75 years. They provoked Tatiana seriously...and

she paid with her life. And those thugs -- who should be in jail -- cashed in.Disgusting. :grr:

"Sousa's parents settled their wrongful death lawsuit for an undisclosed amount, and the brothers settled their lawsuit for a reported $900,000."

[AzNick]

13. So they HAD a case.

The sad part is that the enclosure was probably not deep enough or the walls high enough but nobody knew, as no feline ever leaped out of such a deep enclosure before. I suppose future enclosures will be even deeper.

As usual, the money was well spent on education and for a modest debt-free lifestyle.

YEAH RIGHT. My ex-inlaws settled after the botched surgery which killed my late FIL (a man I truly respected, not the same feeling regarding his children), and it translated into a lavish lifestyle, huge trucks, one quad for everyone, etc... etc...

After 3 years the money had run out.

[northernlights]

20. just because the zoo settled does NOT mean they had a case

It means the zoo wanted it over with quickly so they could move on. Risk and PR is easier to manage with a concrete dollar figure and end date. Going to trial can drag on forever. The thugs had nothing to lose -- most likely the lawyers took them on contingency.

[girl gone mad]

16. This is one time where you hope the lawyers..

gouged the fuck out of them.

[era veteran]

21. That money will have a karmic debt attached

[AtomicKitten]

12. After that, the douchebags were arrested several times for drugs, drunk driving, etc.

---> http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-08-07/bay-area/17178731_1_tiger-attack-kulbir-dhaliwal-san-francisco-zoo

[Starry Messenger]

4. Assholes.

x(

[AlecBGreen]

5. holy frikkin C R A P!!!

"...leaving claw marks etched in the asphalt..."

Thats mind boggling! Look @ the size of the paws and just think of what they can do...

[rocktivity]

7. S.F.? Tiger is in Dubai, the United Arab Emerates

and one stroke off the lead after three rounds!

:evilgrin:
rocktivity

[northernlights]

10. how very funny. not. nt

[Angry Dragon]

11. Who cares??

[stuntcat]

15. beautiful Tatiana

it is nothing but a shame how she was murdered.

[nomorenomore08]

17. Don't tease the kittehs. Especially the giant ones.

nt

[swilton]

18. Correct name is 'Amur' Tiger

According to the tiger experts from the National Zoo (part of the Smithsonian) in Washington, DC, there are no tiger subspecies left in Siberia - these tigers are from the Far East near the Russia/China border and their range although primarily in the Russian Far East cuts into China as well.


In the late 1800’s when Vladivostok had just become incorporated into the Russian Empire more than 1,000 tigers inhabited the region’s forests. After the subspecies declined to less than 40 individuals in the mid-20th century, the Soviet Union renewed measures to protect the tigers by expanding zapovedniki (national research parks) and strengthening anti-poaching legislation that resulted in an increase of the tiger population to nearly 500 adults today. Of twelve countries have tiger populations, Russia is one of six countries where tiger populations have stabilized or increased. Notably, in fall, 2010, Russia hosted the Worldwide Summit on Tiger Conservation in St. Petersburg.

The world’s largest living tiger (male weight up to 800 lbs/female weight up to 500 lbs), the Amur’s range is predominantly in the Russian Far East in the Primorsky and Khabarovsky Krays (regions) – a few members of the species live across the borders of China and North Korea. Much of the terrain is mountainous and rugged but is now crossed by roads, human settlements and more recently logging roads. Competition with the human population for prey (boar, red deer) and forest cover, poaching and habitat loss due to fires have challenged the species’ survival. Considered a keystone species, adult members of the species need huge habitats to successfully survive — adult females require 155 square miles to raise their cubs. Conservation groups are working to create protected areas in the Russian Far East and to find ways that humans and tigers can live side by side.

[pitohui]

19. wow what was their first clue?

anyone who knew anything abt the history of this exhibit and how long the tiger was in the exhibit knew that...