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Tiger Attack: Emergency Recordings

We are streaming every audio clip released today by the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management of the tiger attack at the zoo on Christmas Day.  First, there are two 911 calls.  You’ll hear how zoo employees initially underestimated the crisis.  They believe Kulbir Dhaliwal is “on drugs” when he says he, his brother and a friend were attacked by a tiger.  You’ll hear them realize Tatiana, the Siberian Tiger, is loose. 

Tatianatiger122607600

For the first time, you’ll also hear Kulbir Dhaliwal’s 911 call.  After accusations of drinking and drug use, it struck me how lucid he sounds.  Among so many aspects of this story, it’s disturbing that employees at the zoo’s Terrace Café did not bring the Dhaliwal brothers inside the building for safety.  Twenty-three minutes after the first 911 call, police come to the café patio and find Tatiana attacking the brothers again. 

We listened to the recordings with Michael Cardoza, the attorney for the Sousa family.  He says they raise serious, new questions about the San Francisco Zoo’s response to the attack that day.  He says the Sousa family is still having difficulty dealing with what happened – imagine losing a child that way – and that they are intent on making sure it doesn’t happen again.  They want to push elected officials to make changes at the zoo.

The release today includes radio traffic from the police and fire departments during the crisis.  Fire Department radios picked up the gunshots that killed Tatiana.  And, you hear the police yelling “blue on blue” just before they started firing.  That’s a warning that other officers are in the area, and the police should be careful not to shoot one another. 

You’ll also hear that the drama didn’t end with Tatiana’s death.  Zoo workers told the police four other big cats may also be on the loose.  The police specialists called for different shells for their shotguns.  They usually carry shells with birdshot; they wanted solid slugs to take on the tigers.  Those shells are normally used to open a door or stop a vehicle – surely, they could stop a big cat.  Authorities also called in a CHP helicopter to carry out a grid search of the zoo for the other tigers.  It took 20 minutes for zoo workers to figure out all of the big cats were safely in their enclosures.

Cardoza tells us his experts will have to decide whether Carlos Sousa would have lived, if there were no delays in the emergency response – if the zoo handled the crisis better.  One key part of the puzzle will be the autopsy.  The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office tells me late this afternoon, the autopsy will not be finished for several more weeks.

*** Update Tuesday evening: By the way, emergency officials initially told us the 911 call was from Paul Dhaliwal. There were conflicting reports in other media outlets -- some said the call was from "one of the brothers"; others said Kulbir Dhaliwal placed the call. We phoned the SFPD this evening, left a message, and they called back saying it was, in fact, Kulbir Dhaliwal who placed the 911 call Christmas evening. ***

911 calls

 

SFPD Radio Traffic

 

SFFD Radio Traffic

Posted on January 15, 2008 |

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