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San Francisco Zoo Tiger Attack Victim Admits Drinking, Taunting Animal, Police Say
Foxnews.com ^ | Friday, January 18, 2008 | AP

Posted on 01/18/2008 3:56:46 AM PST by nikos1121

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To: Y2Bogus
My $0.02: While the public should have a beyond reasonable expectation of going to a zoo and not having the thought of being mauled by a jungle cat, gored by a savannah beast, or envenomated by some striking serpent; at the SAME time it doesn't mean that all some stupid sot needs to do is hang around the gorilla cage, stick an arm in while tossing spitballs at the beast, and hope that only a finger gets pulled off so he can then sue the Zoo and ride off into the sunset with a taxpayer check! I'm sorry, I do not subscribe to that, and if I was in the jury (which I am not) I would ensure that hell would freeze over before 12 people agreed to give him money (the best case scenario for that chap would be a hung jury).

what he did was stupid, and while stupidity shouldn't necessarily be fatal it should also not be rewarded. Next you will have people falling in front of a Mack truck, and then claiming that the local Government should have built guard rails to prevent people from tripping and falling in front of rolling juggernauts!

In my book those kids qualify for a Darwin award, and while the Zoo should be penalized that money shouldn't go to the survivor and his lawyer. Sad thing is that he was also not mauled in the event .....the tiger should have been more efficient in dispatching those sots.

41 posted on 01/18/2008 5:20:18 AM PST by spetznaz (Nuclear-tipped Ballistic Missiles: The Ultimate Phallic Symbol)
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To: Sacajaweau
These animals get taunted every day. How many fathers have put their little one on the railing so they can see better.

At least you have to admit that you don't know exactly what acts of taunting these boys were committing.

You can infer that it was bad enough that they immediately knew they needed a pact of silence, even though there was great pressure on them to give information.

So they MUST have been doing something pretty bad, far beyond the example of father-child that you offered.

Before you absolve the boys, you ought to be a bit more curious about what they did to provoke the attack.

42 posted on 01/18/2008 5:20:30 AM PST by WL-law
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To: nikos1121
Zoo should pay some of the funeral expenses and pick up the hospital bills.

Never been to the San Fran one but the zoos I been to before have signs posted throughout the place stating not to mess with the animals.

Hopefully there will not be the usual court ordered lotto jackpot to the winners that forgo common sense.

43 posted on 01/18/2008 5:21:51 AM PST by rollo tomasi (Working hard to pay for deadbeats and corrupt politicians.)
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To: spetznaz

Well said.


44 posted on 01/18/2008 5:24:00 AM PST by WL-law
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To: Mr. Brightside

WE are talking about ANIMALS here. They cannot discern the difference between verbal taunting or aggressive arm waiving and jumping up and down and physical taunting.

Tell, me would you perceive as a threat a animal running at you or circling around in front of you, perhaps rearing up and growling?

I’m not absolving the Zoo of responsibility here but these kids deserve what they got because the simple unalterable truth is had they not engaged in the activities they did they would be alive and free today.

It’s all about accountability.


45 posted on 01/18/2008 5:24:27 AM PST by aroundabout
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To: Mr. Brightside
What evidence is there that the victims did any of those things? (The slingshot story was not true btw.)

There are witnesses, and then there's the post-incident behavior of the boys, the pact of silence they made in the ambulance. I think you're permitted to draw some reasonable inferences from that.

46 posted on 01/18/2008 5:26:24 AM PST by WL-law
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To: nikos1121
If the tiger did use the one boy as a “ladder” to get out then who is to say if the zoo’s facility was not what it should have been. These jerks deserved what they got. There are at least two million animals euthanized every year in this country and breeders have no restrictions. Please read the attached petition.

http://www.endmisery.com/petition2.htm

47 posted on 01/18/2008 5:29:29 AM PST by Misschuck
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To: aroundabout
WE are talking about ANIMALS here. They cannot discern the difference between verbal taunting or aggressive arm waiving and jumping up and down and physical taunting.

Which are good reasons to construct the enclosure in accordance with zoo industry recommendations.

48 posted on 01/18/2008 5:32:00 AM PST by Mr. Brightside
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To: Homer1; IndyTiger

You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. You don’t spit into the wind. You don’t pull the mask off the Lone Ranger. You don’t intentionally provoke a large powerful predatory animal when said animal is minding his/her own business.

I have not heard any of the alleged “PR war,” and couldn’t care less about it.

You mess with a tiger, you get messed with by a tiger.


49 posted on 01/18/2008 5:34:52 AM PST by Skooz (It's Morning in Pelosistahn)
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To: WL-law

Witnesses have claimed the victims “roared” at the lion.

Should the gorilla cage be strong enough to keep the animal inside as long as kids don’t waive their arms and say “OOO-OOO” to the gorilla?

If an eagle escaped and clawed the eyes out of an 8 year old visitor that flapped his arms and said “KAW, KAW” would you still feel the same?


50 posted on 01/18/2008 5:35:45 AM PST by Mr. Brightside
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To: WL-law

>>>the pact of silence they made in the ambulance. I think you’re permitted to draw some reasonable inferences from that.<<<

The cops said the brothers were cooperative.

__________________________________________________________

Brothers injured by tiger will not face charges, investigator

CNN ^ | 1/7/08

San Francisco Police Inspector Valerie Matthews said the investigation had found no evidence that Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal taunted a 300-pound tiger that apparently scaled a 12½ foot wall surrounding its enclosure.... Matthews also said the Dhaliwals were cooperative with investigators.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1949987/posts


51 posted on 01/18/2008 5:38:28 AM PST by Mr. Brightside
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To: Mr. Brightside
The cops said the brothers were cooperative.

So you don't think it's possible to be "cooperative" and also be lying? That's naive.

The EMT in the ambulance HEARD them conspiring to hide the truth. The cops didn't hear that. So they may have believed, incorrectly, that the perps were cooperating.

52 posted on 01/18/2008 5:48:17 AM PST by WL-law
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To: fortheDeclaration

If this operation is like most governmental operations that deal with the public they have virtually no security staff, especially not on or near a holiday and that near closing time. Governments are cutting anything and everything they think no on will miss in order to keep the services that buy them the votes to keep their officials in office.

Our city can’t find the money to hire enough cops to have the strength recommended for a city our size, but they can buy private housing centers all over town and convert them into low income, subsidized housing for the poor. I have no problem with helping the less fortunate, but I sure don’t think it needs to be done by government, at the cost of services like law enforcement.


53 posted on 01/18/2008 5:51:58 AM PST by jwparkerjr (Sigh . . .)
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To: Mr. Brightside

I am very sorry but your statement is NOT true.

While no one has a definitive full story on this matter, the human ladder theory is very much part of the theory.

Only the fine young men know whether that happened BUT concrete was found in the tiger’s hind paws.

Don’t go around saying that as if you’re right. I said it was scuttlebutt and it is. Only those fine young men know the truth.

But the theory has NOT been discredited.

Are you Mark Geragos by chance?


54 posted on 01/18/2008 6:01:56 AM PST by Fishtalk (If you liked the above post, remember I've got a Blog you might like to visit.)
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To: Homer1

Well by all means.,...

....Titiana is still a MAGNIFICENT animal no matter that she acts grouchy. My own cats scratch me from time to time.

childish humans might consider this a justification to shrug off the animal’s death.


55 posted on 01/18/2008 6:03:27 AM PST by Fishtalk (If you liked the above post, remember I've got a Blog you might like to visit.)
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To: Fishtalk

Regarding your post no. 12. Very well put. Thank you for putting into words what many think.


56 posted on 01/18/2008 6:06:44 AM PST by Shyla
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To: IronKros

I’ve said that it has NOT been proven whether or not the big cat used one of those boys as a human ladder. It is scuttlebutt.

I chanced to speak to someone involved in this matter in California and the investigators are telling NOTHING.

They are waiting for Geragos and those fine boys to screw up plus they were waiting for a court order to check their car and cell phones. Which the investigators got, by the way. Which MIGHT be why one of those fine young men are now blabbing.

I am sure that a theory on how the attack came about can be formed by where the wounds on the bodies were. I’m thinking, big scratches and gouges in one of their backs could be indicator of the human ladder theory but again, only those fine young men know what happened. For sure they’ll likely say the cat jumped on the victim from behind and thus the wounds on the back. Or I dunno, maybe those fine boys will tell the truth, you never know. For sure Geragos will encourage them to tell the truth.

Point being, I’m a total loss why normally conservative folks are defending these boys whose parents must be just so proud of them.

Only THEY know what happened. any court case will likely have a prosecutor of plaintif attorney presenting theories on what happened.

But by all means help out the very nice and altruistic Mark Geragos by dismissing what COULD have happened based on...thin air?

And I’ve said the zoo was faulty dear Lord what a horrible example of how to run a business.

Those boys should, but of course, get millions.

Then...all across the fruited plains, lots of other fine adolescents will do the same thing because what’s the lesson here? Get drunk, have a good time, taunt a beast, try to get it loose, then sue for millions.

Hire Mark Geragos first, of course.


57 posted on 01/18/2008 6:10:44 AM PST by Fishtalk (If you liked the above post, remember I've got a Blog you might like to visit.)
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To: Fishtalk

There is no evidence of the human ladder story. No victim’s blood on the wall or in the moat. No shoe in the moat.

Maybe you know something police don’t?


58 posted on 01/18/2008 6:11:18 AM PST by Mr. Brightside
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To: WL-law

Yeah, how about that fine, fine vow of silence? This was reported by the dead kid’s father so we can assume an element of truth.

I’m sure all the defenders of these fine boys would be so proud if their own sons did such a thing.

As for what kind of taunting the boys were doing....only THEY know what happened. For folks to post that such and such a theory has been discounted, well golly help out Geragos why don’t you?

Nobody knows how it all came down but those boys.


59 posted on 01/18/2008 6:13:34 AM PST by Fishtalk (If you liked the above post, remember I've got a Blog you might like to visit.)
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To: spetznaz
so he can then sue the Zoo and ride off into the sunset

And you can believe if these fine boys win millions of bucks that young men across these fruited plains will be trying the same thing.

60 posted on 01/18/2008 6:15:17 AM PST by Fishtalk (If you liked the above post, remember I've got a Blog you might like to visit.)
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