Posted on 12/30/2007 6:10:35 AM PST by Mr. Brightside
Tiger attack survivors 'sorry' they couldn't save mauled friend
BY TAMER EL-GHOBASHY and SOO YOUN, DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Sunday, December 30th 2007, 4:00 AM
SAN JOSE, Calif. - The two brothers who survived the attack by maneating tiger Tatiana broke their silence Saturday, calling their dead friend's family to say they did everything they could to save the teen.
"They called and said they were sorry, that they did everything to help Carlos [Sousa Jr.]," said the victim's cousin Christina Sousa-Habenicht.
Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, and Amritpal (Paul) Dhaliwal, 19, made the call just hours after they left San Francisco General Hospital yesterday, four days after the tiger escaped her lair, killed Sousa, and lashed into the brothers.
They spoke with Carlos Sousa Sr., the father of the slain 17-year-old. It was unclear if they offered any explanation of what happened to provoke the Christmas Day attack - but they revealed that officials initially thought they were lying.
"They called the police and they thought they were crazy," said Sousa-Habenicht. An 18-page police log transcript confirmed the Dhaliwal's claim.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Not only did they call the police and were considered crazy, but according to the timeline, the police had the cat in their sights but didn’t shoot until the cat actually started to maul the kid with a final death blow.
There is nothing these boys could have done to save their friend. Carlos had his jugular vein slashed and was dead when cops approached him twenty minutes later.
It is hard to imagine how two barehanded boys could attack a tiger an win, especially when one of the two was injured from his fight with the tiger.
I am waiting for some heroic poster here to claim that he would have assisted his injured brother with one free hand, while fighting the tiger with the other, all the while stitching up the jugular vein of Carlos Sosa while he dragging both of them to safety.
Unless I’m quite confused the dead guy was found near the cage. When the cops arrived the tiger was mauling the two brothers a considerable distance away. Their not opening fire immediately is more likely to have been from legitimate concerns over hitting the brothers.
The cops were also concerned about shooting each other. The called in a “blue on blue” situation, meaning they were in a cross-fire position.
They wanted to get it with a dart. Someone said "sc*** that" and took it down. Good for him!!
As I understand it they opened fire as soon as it moved toward them and away from the guys it was mauling. Sounds like good timing to me.
Besides the police being concerned about shooting the kid & other police officers, you need to remember that all of this went down after sunset. I recall reading that the police used lights to distract the cat from the kids.
The bigger question is why the zoo employee who had made the initial phone call did not get the brothers inside the cafe building.
I read the “blue on blue”, too. You make a designated hitter call.
And why zoo employees held police outside the gates for six miniutes before rescuers were given “permission” to enter the zoo.
the rescuers/EMT made that call - wouldn’t enter until the threat was contained
Regarding the arm-mauling incident last year, according to what I read, the employee who was feeding the cat reached underneath the cage bars & into the tiger cage to retrieve something.
Not a good idea to be messing with any animal when it's feeding. Even the most wonderful pet dog can get snarky at feeding time.
Consider this idiot who keeps a pet hyena.
Familiarity breeds more danger, not less. I would think zookeepers would be a bit more mindful of that fact.
My guess is that for $6 ad hour, you can get someone willing to sell food, but not be food.
Absolutely.
Yeah, but we're FReepers... these guys are more MySpace types...
The armed police officers were held outside the zoo gates. Presumably the zoo officials were hoping to contain the situation without having to kill the animal.
Regardless, the police were detained at least six minutes from rescuing the boy.
*********************
First zoo worker to report victims’ tiger claim didn’t believe him
By Kim Vo and Mike Swift, Mercury News
Article Launched: 12/28/2007 04:45:20 PM PST
Medics reported that the zoo workers tried to calm down the tiger. The police were still outside at the time. “Zoo security not letting PD (Police Department) in. Zoo personnel have the tiger in sight and are dealing with it,” a police officer said at 5:17 p.m.. “The vict is inside a cafe at the other side of the zoo.”
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7831370?nclick_check=1
Exactly.
That I can understand.
Depends on the time frame & logistics of how it all went down, of course. My post sounded like I was implying that the zoo person should have gone out & hauled the bros. in on his/ her back while staring down the cat. I was thinking more along the lines of unlocking the cafe door so the subjects could duck inside. Quite a lot of time went by from the time that employee placed the call & when the bothers were saved by the police.
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