The Energon Pub

SAN FRANCISCO - 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.

Mark Geragos, an attorney for the Dhaliwal brothers, did not immediately return a call late Thursday by The Associated Press for comment. He has repeatedly said they did not taunt the tiger.

Calls to Sousa and Michael Cardoza, an attorney for the Sousa family, also weren't returned.

Toxicology results for Dhaliwal showed that his blood alcohol level was 0.16 — twice the legal limit for driving, according to the affidavit. His 24-year-old brother, Kulbir, and Sousa also had alcohol in their blood but within the legal limit, Matthews wrote.

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.

Police found a small amount of marijuana in Kulbir Dhaliwal's 2002 BMW, which the victims rode to the zoo, as well as a partially filled bottle of vodka, according to court documents.

Investigators also recovered messages and images from the cell phones, but apparently nothing incriminating in connection with the tiger attack, the Chronicle reported.

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."

Thunderscream wrote:So, this poor unfortunate animal who the police had to shoot to death was guilty of nothing more than justifiable homicide?

Figures.

DISCHARGE wrote:

Thunderscream wrote:So, this poor unfortunate animal who the police had to shoot to death was guilty of nothing more than justifiable homicide?

Figures.

Seriously, killing is justified if someone is pointing at you?
That's just poor taste. I bet they had good weed too.

Grahf wrote:If you are stupid ebough to provoke an attack like that, by all means you should be considered tiger chow. Its always the animal that is acting the way nature intended that ends up paying. At least one of the three won't be making any contributions to the gene pool.

Senor Hugo wrote:Poor tiger. It's like that lady who was assaulted by the polar bear, for being too damn close to the cage.

If you can't kill an animal with your bare hands, you have no right to taunt the sucker, and deserve your fate.

They should give that tiger a posthumous medal for the betterment of mankind.

Shadowman wrote:So they got drunk, and taunted a tiger.

A tiger. A 600 pound predator, born to hunt down and kill anything it can mark as "Food."

These dipshits got what they deserved.

Sherade wrote:

Shadowman wrote:So they got drunk, and taunted a tiger.

A tiger. A 600 pound predator, born to hunt down and kill anything it can mark as "Food."

These dipshits got what they deserved.

Yeah, they deserved this, but I'm disturbed by how unphased you all are at death. What if you knew them personally? What if you were related?
Drunk, yes, stupid yes, but dying is nothing to pass over so easily.

Shadowman wrote:When you taunt a being designed to kill, then you've signed your own death warrant. When it's an endangered species, then you're also an asshole. When you survive, but pretend that you didn't taunt it so no one would find out that you were drunk in public, holding marijuana, etc., then you've given up any reason of anyone to respect you.

Fender Bender wrote:Stupid kid gets drunk. Stupid kid taunts tiger. Stupid kid gets eaten by tiger. Any questions?

mosh wrote:

Fender Bender wrote:Stupid kid gets drunk. Stupid kid taunts tiger. Stupid kid gets eaten by tiger. Any questions?

YES, thats what I've been saying ever since that first report of taunting right after Christmas day. I live in the Bay Area CALI, and its impossible to get away from hearing more of it.