Police, fire logs in S.F. tiger mauling show scene of chaos, delay

[RamboLiberal]

The initial report of a Christmas Day tiger attack was downplayed by San Francisco Zoo employees as the ravings of a mentally unstable person, triggering a slower police response, according to documents and sources.

And when fire crews and police arrived at the zoo, they were forced to wait outside for precious minutes by zoo security guards enforcing an emergency lockdown, emergency dispatch logs indicate.

Meanwhile, Carlos Sousa Jr. lay bleeding at the tiger exhibit for several minutes amid the confusion. It may have taken fire crews and zoo officials as long as 13 minutes from the first 911 call to find his body.

The police dispatch logs released Friday and fire dispatch records obtained by The Chronicle reflect a chaotic scene as zoo officials seemed ill-equipped to deal with a dire emergency.

Emergency responders and zoo officials, for example, spotted the cat moving about freely but waited for zoo employees with tranquilizer guns, according to the logs. Just minutes later, the tiger was viciously biting and clawing one of its victims at a cafe located 300 yards away from the tiger grotto. At the restaurant, police shot and killed the cat.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/29/MNDVU65TO.DTL&tsp=1

I think some interesting info in these reports. Looks like a f'up all around. Even if these young men hold some responsibility for taunting the tiger they and the family of the young man who died are going to still have a helluva case. I'm wondering if this will lead to the demise of the SF Zoo.

Also for those DU'ers who wondered why the cops couldn't wait till zoo employess got the tranquilizer darts, looks like they did try to wait - maybe to the detriment of the victims.