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Well, not "all," per se, but on Monday night Paul Dahliwal, one of the three people involved in the Christmastime tiger attack at the SF Zoo, telephoned Carlos Sousa Jr.'s mother, Marilza, to tell her that he and his chums were "dancing, talking, and laughing" moments before the attack. (Doing the Turkey Lurkey dance, no doubt.) It seems that Paul also told her that they were not taunting the tiger, something that has been widely speculated.
Mark Geragos, attorney for the Dahliwal brothers, claims that the SF Zoo shifted into smear-campaign gear against Paul and Kulbir right after the attack, claiming that they had taunted Tatiana. This hearsay phone call info to Sousa's parents certainly helps reinforce the brothers' case.
It should also be mentioned that, according to CBS 5, "a necropsy of Tatiana the tiger revealed that the claws on her hind paws were torn or frayed, perhaps suggesting that she struggling to gain traction on the grotto wall, trying to get out." The reason for Tatiana's desire to get out of her pen just prior to the attack remains an unanswered question in this case.
Again, why isn't there security camera footage available of what happened during that fateful Christmas Day? Really, we will not rest until every centimeter of this city is viewable via live cam!
In other news, SFPD Chief Heather Fong is recommending medals of valor to Scott Biggs, Kevin O'Leary, Daniel Cruz, and Chris Oshida, the SFPD officers who shot and killed Tatiana. Do they deserve said medal of valor or not? Discuss.
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If they had tackled the tiger, flipped it over, and rubbed its belly until it fell asleep -- THAT would warrant some medals of valor...
Or does that only work with crocodiles?
Of course they deserve the medals. The officers had no idea of the background of the victims, who called whom, whether or not the victims had been drinking, etc. They just saw a tiger attacking two humans.
Yes! Taunted (which I think she was) or not, she was completely out of control and literally lunging to get another bite out of the bros. There really wasn't another option available at that moment, unless you want to see her on the loose, roaming through the Sunset and eating people (despite all the genius article titles and possible LOLTIGER pics in SFist this would inspire).
If there was a tranquilizer option immediately available, that would have been ideal, but if a tiger is on the loose attacking innocent(?) people, you probably only have so much time to think about it.
They did what they had to do. I do wonder if any of the officers have children. It must be hard to explain to your kid why you killed a tiger. Couldn't have been easy for them...
They were doing their job, no? Granted it's a dangerous job, but you sign up for it.
The zoo staff were armed with tranquilizer guns, but the police got there first. A terrible end, but life is kinda messy sometimes.
The police did what they had to do, based on the need to make a split second decision.
It's horrible that the zoo had such a bad emerg plan. The tiger should have been shot with a tranq
gun, and would be alive today.
I still want to know what is going to happen with the fur. Do I have to be like the caller to Tiffany about the blood diamonds and the Mayor?
Has anyone heard anything at all about the fur?
Brock, I think they could squeeze two coats out of it-at least two stoles.
Next up: Medals of Valor for officers who use turn signals.
A patch with Tony the Tiger in the crosshairs?
Tatiana died 25 Dec-2007, at the hands of the San Francisco Police Department, when she escaped from her enclosure. Was Tatiana provoked? Why was there a bloody shoe found inside her enclosure? Had they been drinking before going into the San Francisco Zoo? If anything get boys on under age drinking or open container found inside the car! That's if you don't have enough on provoking the animals. Why didn't Tatiana get out of her enclosure before? Why now? What about the witness that came forward? I really feel, Tatiana is the true victim here. In time, the truth will come out. It’s sad that a person had to die and others injured, but if… if the tiger was provoked or abused by so called hands, well they got what they deserved. We expect a wild animal to live by our rules, in a cage knowing this can never be. The deep desire to be free is in all of us. Even if she was caught and put back into her cage, I think there might have been a cry to put her down anyway. Even for a brief moment if she felt free, makes me smile & heart glow with joy. For the last minutes of her life she knew, what it felt to have freedom.
myspace.com/tatiana_siberian
I really can't say that I think the officers deserve a medal of valor for this one. I looked up what typically qualifies as medal of valor -
- going above and beyond the call of duty; and
exhibiting
- exceptional courage, extraordinary decisiveness and presence of mind
- unusual swiftness of action, regardless of his or her personal safety, in an attempt to save or protect human life
I'm not saying the officers did the right thing or the wrong thing. But it's not like they wrestled the tiger to the ground to save the guy. Last I checked, tigers don't wear bullet proof vests, and it just doesn't seem to me that there was any valor involved in the situation.
And an aside - I used to work at the SF Zoo, and I'd walk past Tatiana and the other tigers every morning with my coffee before the zoo opened to the public, and there wasn't a single second that I felt my life was in danger. I'd be lucky to catch the tiger's attention for a glance in my direction.
Zoo animals are used to the public, and the only time I've seen any of the animals there agitated is when large crowds were too close to the animals enclosures (I saw it often in the Lion House, although I no longer worked there at the time of the zoo keeper attack) or when the animals were harassed or taunted either by throwing things at the animals, or by people generally harassinig animals by screaming at them or tapping on the walls of glass enclosures, etc. I'm not sure of what happened in this case, but my gut tells me that the cat was harassed - and now we're dealing with aftermath of the tragedy that occurred because of it.