Tiger Attack: No Slingshots

Picture courtesy:
The New York Post

Much of what we do on the I-Team is check out leads and unsubstantiated rumors to find out whether we have a story. We had heard the rumors about slingshots being used to torment Tatiana, the Siberian tiger, before she apparently leapt from the grotto at San Francisco Zoo killing Carlos Sousa Jr. and injuring Amritpal Dhaliwal and his brother, Kulbir. In fact, many of our law enforcement sources had heard the same thing, but we could not confirm the reports. So, it surprised us to see the New York Post run the headline on New Year’s Day, “Tiger Brothers Had Slingshots” with that nifty, generic picture.

The reporter quoted “a source” – no indication whether it was a law enforcement source; someone at the scene; someone in New York, for that matter – to say the brothers “had slingshots on them” after the incident. Today, we received official word from the San Francisco Police Department. Sgt. Steve Manina told us he checked with inspectors working the case and “there were no slingshots on the kids, in the zoo or ambulances that night.” No slingshots.

Manina did confirm the brothers had a vodka bottle in their car that night – inspectors would not say whether it was empty, as has been reported. They are also trying to figure out whether rocks or tree limbs found in the tiger’s grotto are evidence that she was taunted. No matter how much she may have been harassed, the tiger should not have been able to escape her enclosure. That’s why zoo officials are raising the wall around the grotto, to meet industry standards.

Comments

[seven]

Thanks for the update. I've been confused by the different reports.

[tigersfirstdoucheslast]

The Douche-whalilals need to come clean....they are clearly hiding something and just need to tell the truth instead of hiding behind Big Lying Lawyers. Either that or go back to wherever it is Douche-whalilals come from and seriously rethink their small, lame lives.

Tatiana rocks. She just did what she needed to do to survive being f-d with by losers. Too bad the wrong guy got killed....that's just sad.

[susan]

I feel so very sad over the death of this beautiful tiger. I can't shake it from my mind. We are running out of tigers. Unfortunately we are not running out of people, especially the crappy ones.

I apologise for my species, Tatiana. We have done you wrong.

[Sue]

True, the tiger should not have been able to escape. I'll give you that. However, how long has the tiger enclosure been there? Since the 40's and no escapes? It's hard for me to believe the tiger was not provoked. This is a break down in social values. The brothers behaviors after the attack make that pretty clear. They would not even give up their dead friends name until the day after? Now, the only ones that make out in this sad story is the lawyers and the media.

[Devilsad08]

As soon as the story of the tiger attack came out, many people jumped to the conclusion that the men had done something wrong- taunting or tormenting the animal. Some are more sympathetic to the dead tiger than to the dead man, based on assumptions/speculations and no proof.

It is sad to see a rare animal die, but would you rather see humans die because the zoo could not protect the visitors to the zoo? The tiger should not have been able to escape, period. The same tiger had bitten off the arm of a zoo employee a year ago. That employee was there to feed the tiger. This is a wild animal and for some reason it reacted the way it did. The zoo needed to realize that they are wild animals and not cats or dogs. In my opinion the zoo failed to protect these men because the wall they built around the tiger was not tall enough. It does not matter whether the men taunted the tiger or not. If they did, it was an act of immaturity and carelessness. However, there was no proof of that, and people were already blaming the men who were either badly injured or killed.

[athena]

Yes, the tiger should not have been able to escape. But also yes, if those teenagers taunted Tatiana then I would rather see them die over her. And I would have loved to see their faces as she jumped over the enclosure.

[Robert]

Yes,it is sad to see such a beautiful animal end up like this.But is also very sad that someone had to die because of this horrible tragedy. But,whether she was taunted or not,she should not have been able to escape.Zoos are supposed to be safe for everybody without something like this happening.I can't believe people at times have more sympathy for this tiger than the boy who died.The boy whos parents and family are going to miss and forever be traumatized by this.This could have happened to anyone like your son,daughter,mother,father etc.Would you still be blaming these victims and still feel the same way about Tatiana??

[Paula]

I can't believe people are more upset about the tiger's death than about the death and injury to young people. Your comments illustrate a part of what is wrong with our culture -- people have no relativity. I agree that it's sad to see a beautiful animal die but we shouldn't have zoos in the first place. However, if we do have them they should be safe and people who visit them should feel protected. What if children had been attacked -- would you idiots be saying "stupid children, poor tiger". The zoo needs to accept full responsibility for this. They put visitors and their animals in danger -- the deaths are sad on all counts but it is the zoos fault -- not the tiger's and not those boys.

[Dave Collins]

Maybe the tiger is better off. To be a big cat in a zoo looks like a miserable existence. And maybe we`re better off with one less moron in the world. It seems the brothers that survived may have been the bigger idiots, but Carlos is at least guilty of keeping bad company and probably, being the youngest,only needed a few more years to develop into a prime ass as well.
What I am tired of is people 'god blessing' these young people, America, military service members, those in the fire/police department, etc... Stop writing blank checks! There are Marines that rape and kill pregnant women, fireman that beat their wifes, priests that molest children. At the same time there are people in Iran, Iraq and North Korea that are better people that you and I could ever hope to be. In the end we are all individuals human beings and should be judged so. The three tiger boys I judge to be pretty much wastes of flesh and therefore have little to no sympathy for them.

[Donna]

I do not care if those young men were standing on a rail and waving their arms at that tiger or what physiclal condition they were in. It is still the Zoo's respsonsibility to protect the people who visit there. No animal should be able to escape and harm anyone. It is totally the Zoo's responsiblility to protect the visitors whatever the circumstances. It is too bad that the animal had to be killed, but I think it should have been after killing a human being. I think it is ridiculous that the Zoo is trying to blame this on the visitors. I hope the victim's families get an abundant sum of restitution for this. They absolutely deserve it for the Zoo's negligence.

[Donna]

Hey Dave you must be pretty inferior yourself. What a piece of crap you are to say that these young men are a waste of flesh and that you have no sympathy for them. You are the freaking MORON that judges and catagorizes these young men that you don't even know, with marines that rape pregnant women, firemen that beat their wives and priests that molest children. Like I said, "You are the waste of flesh and a MORON!"