SF Zoo Tiger Did Public Service!

One of the three victims of San Francisco Zoo tiger attack was intoxicated and admitted to yelling and waving at the animal while standing atop the railing of the big cat enclosure, police said in court documents filed Thursday.

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

"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 Sr., said Dhaliwal told him the three stood on a 3-foot-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 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 4 feet 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.

Toxicology results for Dhaliwal showed that his blood alcohol level was 0.16 — twice the legal limit for driving...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 Christmas Day, the affidavit said.

<snip>

Zoo spokesman 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."

SheikBen wrote:I don't think Lennon mentioned tigers, however....

SheikBen wrote:I wonder how the concept of karma came about. It strikes me as the ultimate cop-out "It is really my fault, just not in this lifetime!"

I think it has already been mentioned that people always imagine themselves kings and bishops rather than dunggatherers and Frenchmen.

Stephanie wrote:If I may quote Lennon again.........

"Whatever gets you through the night"

Stephanie wrote:

SheikBen wrote:I wonder how the concept of karma came about. It strikes me as the ultimate cop-out "It is really my fault, just not in this lifetime!"

I don't think it's a cop-out. We look at it in total reverse. You see it as what happens now is from the past. I look at it more as what I do today will impact my future. It's just another tool used to "make" people be "good".

karma - The effects of a person's past actions on his or her present and future state.