Results tagged “tiger”

     

Yesterday, way down in Vallejo, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom opened up at new big-cat exhibit. It's called "Odin's Temple of the Tiger," featuring the headlining, "internationally acclaimed" Bengal tiger named Odin.

The victims (instigators?) of the Christmastime tiger mauling that left their (sort of) friend, Carlos Sousa Jr., dead, Kulbir and Amritpal Dhaliwal will receive a cool $900.000 from the San Francisco Zoo. According to SF Chronicle, this settlement by the zoo "resolves claims the brothers brought in U.S. District Court against the city, zoo and Sam Singer, a crisis public relations consultant the zoo hired after the attack." The brothers' lawsuit, among other claims, says that the SF Zoo failed at "keeping the 243-pound Siberian tiger named Tatiana in an enclosure that had walls 4 feet lower that what is recommended by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums." It also says that Kulbir Dhaliwal "wasn't attacked until after an employee refused to allow him into the safety of a zoo cafe." Which, yeah, regardless of what you think of the hoodlum brothers, that's kind of cold. Anyway, the Dhaliwal brothers will split the money, which is sure to buy all of the Grey Goose, Drakkar Noir, and criminal defense attorneys they will ever need.

Triggering Tatiana flashbacks today, we just got word that a white tiger fatally mauled a zoo keeper in a New Zealand yesterday, "just three months after the victim had saved another keeper from an attack by the same tiger." Happening at the Zion Wildlife Center in Whangarei, somewhere in Middle Earth, tiger handler Dalu Mncube succumbed to severe tearing of the abdomen. According to Times Online, "the male tiger attacked Mr Mncube with no warning, ripping at the helpless man's body as his colleague tried to fight him off with a stick and a fire extinguisher." San Francisco Zoo, if you recall, payed host to a fatal tiger attack on Christmas Day 2007 when Tatiana the tiger leaped from her grotto, attacking and killing Carlos Sousa Jr. Unlike Tatiana, however, who was shot and killed by SFPD officers, the white tiger wasn't put down. Update: We were wrong. The white tiger, one of only 120 white tigers in the world, was killed soon after the mauling.

This just in. Carlos Sousa, Jr.'s family, who sued SF Zoo over their son's 2007 Christmas Day tiger mauling death, has agreed to a settlement. According to today's release:

Yesterday, as Carlos Sousa Jr.'s family mourned the one-year anniversary of their son's death, a sculpture of Tatiana the tiger was unveiled. Halfway up Telegraph Hill, a pleasant yet odd location to place it, the big-cat monument is built to scale as how Tatiana might have looked when she first arrived at the SF Zoo in 2005. Created by 48-year-old Jon Engdahl, who felt sympathy toward to the tiger, he views her as the victim, not the aggressor, in last year's awful Christmas time incident. "This was a labor of love," Engdahl tells the Chronicle, "I identified with this beautiful animal. I felt sorry for the sordid and needless way she died." If you recall, Engdahl had also organized a vigil for Tatiana early last year that attracted a handful feline lovers on New Year's Day 2008.

With Tatiana's brutal attack nearing its one-year anniversary, the tiger's victim family sued the city of San Francisco and the San Francisco Zoo today for wrongful death. If you recall, the big cat escaped from her grotto last Christmas Day, attacking and killing 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. According to reports, Marilza and, Carlos' parents, claim that "the zoo and the city, as owners of Tatiana, the Siberian tiger that jumped over its enclosure and mauled Sousa and two of his friends, are liable for Sousa's death, according to their attorney Michael Cardoza." The bumbling Dhaliwal brothers, Carlos' "friends," were also injured when the Tatiana jumped out of her pit. Word is the brothers, while drunk and/or high, taunted the tiger, which prompted the attack. Allegedly.

Big-cat attack survivor Kulbir Dhaliwal, who saw his fame quotient skyrocket last year after Tatiana the tiger escape from her grotto and went on a fatal rampage, was handed ten days in jail after pleading guilty to public intoxication and resisting arrest. This incident happened before the Tatiana killed the Dhaliwal's "friend" Carlos Sousa, Jr. The Dhaliwal brothers, it seems, "were arrested Sept. 7, 2007, after they scuffled with San Jose police who tried to stop them after seeing them chase two men down the street." But wait, it gets better! Kulbir also "cursed at officers while kicking the security partition in a squad car, forcing police to pull him out and put him in leg restraints."

With the one-year anniversary of 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr.'s death by tiger approaching -- if you recall, it happened in Christmas day of 2007 -- the two brothers who survived the big-cat attack have filed a federal lawsuit against the city and county of San Francisco, the SFPD, the zoo, and a public relations firm hired by the SF Zoo just after the attack. The Dhaliwals claim that the "tiger enclosure was lower than recommended national standards" and that "the zoo started a smear campaign against the Dhaliwal brothers following the attacks." (KCBS)

Speculations are being thrown around that Tatiana the tiger was "underfed," possibly urging her to go on a fatal eating binge last Christmas. It seems that when Tatiana arrived at the SF Zoo in December 2005, she came in at a normal 292 pounds. But when she was killed by the SFPD last December, she weighed in at a pin-thin 242 pounds. (No word yet as to whether or not she was cutting herself as well.) Some "experts outside the zoo" are wondering if she was getting enough to eat, which might have prompted the tiger to mistake Carlos Sousa Jr. and the brothers Dhaliwal as big, imaginary mutton chops.

In what must have been the six most shit-laced months of his life, Manuel Mollinedo, the executive director of the San Francisco Zoo, has resigned. Ever since Tatiana the tiger went for Carlos Sousa's jugular last Christmas, and made minor Bay Area celebrities out of the bumbling brothers Dahliwal, the San Francisco Zoo has faced "high zoo employee turnover" and "abysmal morale." Tanya McVeigh Peterson, a zoo society board lawyer will serve as interim director.

Carlos Sousa Jr.'s autopsy report has just been released to the public. According to ABC 7's Dan Noyes, the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office's report details the massive (and pretty graphic) injures Sousa suffered from Tatiana the tiger on Christmas Day 2007 at the San Francisco Zoo after a tiger escaped from her grotto.

The Intrepid Travel, some sort of online travel guide -- one that clearly has no access to the internets, TV, newspapers, phones, water coolers -- is bestowing the SF Zoo (along with 60 others) with the title of Best Zoo of 2008. Yes. Yes, they are. While the title of Most Interesting Zoo of 2008 seems appropriate, we still can't figure out if this is some sort of joke. Here's part of the remarkable press release:

Paul Dhaliwal--Christmastime tiger attack victim, and currently in the process of trying to sue the city of San Francisco over said attack--might be looking at some time in the clink. After Dhaliwal went on a shoplifting spree last month, which included the brazen act of stuffing of two Wii controllers down his pants, San Leandro cops are recommend seven felony charges be handed down to him. According to the San Leandro police spokesman Lt. Tom Overton (via the San Jose Mercury News):

Looking to get a few bucks out of the city for the Christmas Day tiger attack that claimed the life of their (alleged) friend Carlos Sousa Jr., Amritpal and Kulbir Dhaliwal have filed claims against the city. Finally. And our sources sent SFIst a copy of the claim! (We'll try to get that up for you shortly.)

The San Francisco Zoo announced today that Leanne, the 230-pound Sumatran tiger, is now caring for three newborn cubs. The SF Zoo, which came under scrutiny after last year's tiger-related mauling death of 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr., says that this is the first birth of Sumatran tiger for the zoo since 1956. It turns out Leanne had three of the cubs over a week ago, but kept them accidentally hidden from view of zoo cameras. According to the chief of veterinary services at the San Francisco Zoo Jacqueline Jencek:

On Thursday, Juan Zuluaga, 26, was arrested at the SF Zoo following a run-in with a rhinoceros. It seems, according to the Chron, that Zuluaga was busted for throwing acorns at Mashaki, a black rhino:

A 245-pound Sumatra tiger in Hawaii was found wandering the grounds of the Honolulu Zoo on Thursday morning. it seems she "wandered out of her cage" during closing hours. According to AP (via the Merc):

The big cat grottoes re-open for public view.

Glorious, isn't it?

Due to the "unusual and extraordinary" Christmas Day tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo -- which resulted in the mauling death of 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. and wounding of Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal -- a three-member tiger team formed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums has been called in to examine the zoo's big cat grotto. While the investigation and renovations are underway, the tigers and lions are currently kicking it indoors. What's more, according to zoo director Manuel Mollinedo, the cats have been subjected to the wonderful world of Disney:

According to today's Examiner, Tatiana will not, in fact, be honored with a gravestone complete old Sicilian widows throwing themselves onto her coffin. Instead, her "body parts will be probed and preserved while the rest, including the tiger’s coat, have already been incinerated. It’s just what happens to all zoo animals after they die."

According to police reports Paul Dhaliwal admitted to "standing atop a railing of the big cat enclosure and yelling and waving at the animal that would later maul them," killing Carlos Sousa Jr. on Christmas Day at the SF Zoo.

In the battle to see who's going down and who gets what and how much in court, new "evidence" suggests that possibly, maybe, perhaps Tatiana the tiger was provoked. It seems that said proof is in the form of a footprint and blood found inside the tiger enclosure at the SF Zoo. According to the kids down at KCBS:

At the bargain price of just $35 dollars down at City Hall this morning, authorities released the emergency 911 tapes of the San Francisco Zoo tiger attacks. The attacks, if you don't remember, occurred on Christmas Day, taking the life of Carlos Sousa Jr. and injuring the now (in)famous Dhaliwal brothers. The footage is raw, with the most unnerving robotic British female voice overlapping the frantic phone call, but to check listen to the audio, go here. According to the Gate:

Although we can hardly see our computer screen through the hurricane of tears pouring from our eyes, we present to you the following poem of pain for Tatiana the tiger, penned by SFist poet laureate Ginadee62 in response to "Tatiana the Tiger's Official MySpace Memorial Page." This reader easily wins the award for Comment of the Week.

(Look at us, getting all PETA on you with that headline. Gross.)

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.

Round 4 goes to Dennis Herrera

Tiger attack victim, 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr., was mourned last night at the Five Wounds Portuguese National Church in San Jose by hundreds of loved ones.

Delay, delay, dealy in the deadly tiger case