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Taunting Of Tiger Doesn't Acquit Zoo, Experts Say

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By LISA LEFF and TERENCE CHEA, The Associated Press

Published: January 19, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO - Police think the three people mauled by a tiger yelled and waved at the cat from atop a railing before it lunged at them, but experts say that's only a notch up from the type of taunting animals regularly endure at the nation's zoos.

One study concluded as many as one in four zoo visitors razz the animals in some way, and large predators such as tigers are a prime target.

Paul Dhaliwal, one of two surviving victims, told the father of the teenager killed in the Christmas Day attack that although the three climbed the 3-foot-tall railing and tried to get the tiger's attention, they never threw or dangled anything into the pen, according to a search warrant affidavit filed late Thursday.

Dhaliwal, 19, was severely injured when the 250-pound Siberian tiger named Tatiana clawed its way up the wall of its enclosure, leapt out and mauled him. His brother, Kulbir, 24, also was injured, and their friend, 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr., was killed.

Charges Could Be Filed

The tiger "may have been taunted/agitated by its eventual victims," Inspector Valerie Matthews wrote in the affidavit. Police think "this factor contributed to the tiger escaping from its enclosure and attacking its victims," she wrote.

All three victims had marijuana in their systems, and Paul Dhaliwal's blood alcohol level was 0.16 - twice the level at which a driver is presumed impaired, the affidavit said.

"Clearly, there's the lesson to be learned here," said zoo spokesman Sam Singer. "The lesson is that it's not a good idea to drink, it's not a good idea to be high on dope, and it's not a good idea to taunt a man-eating tiger."

Authorities were weighing whether to seek criminal charges against the Dhaliwals, but their attorney, Mark Geragos, said they have presented no evidence of a crime. Geragos, who repeatedly has said the brothers didn't taunt the tiger, also noted the affidavit does not specify any possible counts.

"Basically, they're arguing that if you go to the zoo and wave at the animals, you get the death penalty," he said. "And that's just nonsense."

David Kestenbaum, a criminal defense lawyer in Los Angeles who has followed the case, said investigators could be pursuing misdemeanor charges related to possessing marijuana, trespassing or giving alcohol to a minor.

"I don't see a felony based on the facts that are public at this point," Kestenbaum said.

Some animal behaviorists said Friday that the visitors' alleged actions would not exonerate the zoo or its accrediting agency, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Zoo officials have acknowledged the wall surrounding the tiger's open-air enclosure was 4 feet lower than recommended by the association. The same tiger ripped the flesh off a zookeeper's arm in December 2006. After that attack, the zoo revamped the bars enclosing the indoor cages where she and other big cats were kept.

"If you are going to have an animal like a Siberian tiger or other predators, you have to protect the public," said wildlife biologist Marc Bekoff, a professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

'A Cascade Of Things'

Bekoff said taunting is common at zoos. He said students in his animal behavior courses during the 1990s found that 20 percent to 25 percent of zoo visitors taunted the animals - especially predators such as lions and tigers - by mimicking, yelling, throwing things or otherwise aggravating them.

"This is not an isolated incident and the zoo is trying to wrangle itself out," he said. "The kids were not responsible for Tatiana being shipped around like a couch. The kids were not responsible for the enclosure being inadequate. The kids are responsible for the taunting."

Stephen Zawistowski, science adviser for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, also said taunting probably is not the sole reason for the attack.

"When something like this happens, what you find is, it's almost never that there was one single thing that went wrong," Zawistowski said. "It's a cascade of things.

"The wall wasn't a height that was appropriate; there was an animal with a past history; there was nobody there to keep track of it; there were people there harassing it. When you click down that list and they all align, you end up with a tragedy," he said.

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