Almost
One San Francisco zoo patron remembers an incident from the tiger enclosure in 1997. SFGate reports:
Marian Roth-Cramer recalled the day she and her son, who was 4 or 5, visited the tiger exhibit in 1997.
"My son had his hands on the metal bar," said the San Francisco woman, a children's dance and family programs coordinator at a branch of the YMCA. "All of a sudden, I saw the tiger leap over the moat, put a paw on the dirt (and hang on). I screamed and grabbed my son." The animal slid away. She turned to a zookeeper and asked if he'd seen what she had. His reply: "She always does that. She hates my guts."
She wrote a letter to David Anderson, the zoo director at the time, about the incident and canceled her membership. She said she never got a reply. Mollinedo, who took over in early 2004, said that he asked staff members after Tuesday's attack whether any big cat had ever jumped the moat or escaped the grotto, and no one could recall anything like that happening.
Nothing follows.
posted by wretchardthecat at 12/28/2007 10:59:00 AM
9 Comments:
Ah, the spin. Again, the kids who never go to the zoo, and whose parents don't even know why they went to the zoo, shall not lose their child in vain:
"On Thursday, Fong denied earlier reports that police were looking into the possibility that the victims had dangled a leg or other body part over the edge of the moat, after a shoe and blood was found inside the enclosure. No shoe was found inside, but a shoeprint was found on the railing of the fence surrounding the enclosure, and police are checking it against the shoes of the three victims, she said."
How long does it take for SF police to match up a shoe print?
This is all going down the memory hole - I hope somebody is saving the articles - I mean actual screenprints, because I'm seeing stories revised and revised again, each time working towards making young Carlos a martyr.
Still no more on the pinecones.
I'm starting to wonder if Bhutto was killed by an escaped tiger biting her head.
"How long does it take for SF police to match up a shoe print?"
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I think they have Carbon Dated it, and a specimen is in transit for a DNA analysis.
A PET Scan or two, and we'll be in business.
The Pinecones have been composted, in the best Bay Area Green Tradition.
When Carlos Sousa Jr. didn't show up for Christmas dinner, his father called several of his son's friends - including the two brothers injured in the tiger attack that killed the teen.
Either Amritpal "Paul" Dhaliwal, 19, or his 23-year-old brother Kulbir Dhaliwal answered the phone and told Sousa Sr. that his son wasn't with them. In reality, the three young men were either on their way to or had already arrived at the San Francisco Zoo, where they would later be mauled by a 350-pound Siberian tiger.
"I said, 'Have you seen my son?' and he said, 'No,' then he wished me a merry Christmas," the father said.
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The Dhaliwal brothers have been hostile to police in the current death investigation and were "extremely belligerent" in an earlier encounter with police this year, authorities say.
After the zoo attack, authorities said, the brothers had refused to give their own names, identify the victim or initially give authorities an account of what occurred.
Thursday, police interviewed the two brothers, as well as Sousa's father. Authorities didn't release the details of the interviews but did say their investigation showed that the tiger first attacked the older brother.
The brother yelled, police said, and the tiger released him, then grabbed Sousa. At that time, the brothers ran toward the cafe. The tiger caught up to them and again attacked before police fatally shot her.
"My son was trying to distract the tiger and scare it away," said Sousa Sr. after talking to police. "My son was being brave. I'm proud of him."
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Both Kulbir and Paul Dhaliwal were charged Oct. 9 with misdemeanor public intoxication and resisting a police officer after they were arrested a short distance from their home while apparently chasing two men, according to court documents.
Kulbir Dhaliwal allegedly cursed officers and kicked the security partition between the back and front seats in a police car after being handcuffed in the Sept. 7 incident, the police report said.
The brothers pleaded not guilty to the charges and are scheduled to appear in court Jan. 15, records show.
"The reports indicate they were extremely belligerent with police," said Steuart Scott, the deputy district attorney assigned the case.
"After the zoo attack, authorities said, the brothers had refused to give their own names, identify the victim or initially give authorities an account of what occurred. "
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Well isn't that SPECIAL?
Yep, Doug, you hit on the same line that leaped out at me. Makes me really feel all sorts of sympathy for them as poor innocent victims of a marauding wild beast. You too?
You might want to tip into the commnents on some of the SF newspapers. Surprisingly for that city by the bay, other SF letter writers are standing up for the tiger, too, and asking the same sorts of questions. Not all commenters, given that it *is* SF and they're determined to be touchy-feely all over the place about "poor misunderstood youth", but some.
So we have two older brothers with some kind of Eastern or Indian immigrant names, and one much younger teenager described as "very shy" who probably has family member who speak Spanish. And when the father of the teenager calls the older youth (who have been in trouble with the law before), he is lied to. Yep, sounds like either an initiation ceremony or a virgin sacrifice to me.
>Family Of Slain Tiger Victim 'Hurt' By Surviving Friends
Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal survived the tiger attack and are recovering at San Francisco General Hospital. The two have not yet spoken publicly about the events. Sousa Jr.'s mother said her son was best friends with Paul Dhaliwal.
Sousa Sr. said he spent Christmas Day searching for his son. The family did not know that he had gone to the zoo with his friends. He said Dhaliwal told him in a phone conversation on Christmas Day that Sousa Jr. was not with him.
"I called Paul the day my son died and said, 'Have you seen my son?' and he said, 'No,'" Sousa Sr. said. "My son looked at him like a brother, so that's one thing that hurt us a lot."
Sousa Sr. has not spoken with the Dhaliwal brothers since the attack but he said he has a lot of questions for Paul.
"I want to say, 'Why'd you lie?'" he said. "'Why didn't you tell me he was with you?'"
The Sousas also want to know why the brothers did not tell police the other person attacked by the tiger was their son. Authorities reported the brothers were not cooperating with them originally.
So do we know yet if this was a virginal sacrifice or a gang initiation or an honour killing?
No news is spun news.
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