Attorney denies victims provoked tiger's attack
SAN FRANCISCO — A high-profile attorney hired by the two brothers injured in a Christmas Day tiger attack at the zoo here said Wednesday that neither his clients nor the young man who died had provoked the 300-pound Siberian tiger to vault from her enclosure.
Mark Geragos, who represents brothers Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, said that neither they nor their 20-year-old friend Carlos Sousa Jr., who was killed in the incident, had taunted Tatiana before she escaped from the outdoor enclosure.
Authorities have not yet determined conclusively how the animal escaped, but she may have crossed a dry moat and either leaped or scaled a wall that separated the enclosure from visitors.
Geragos has denied contentions that the three victims fired objects at the tiger with slingshots.
He said such rumors were being spread by zoo representatives as part of a "campaign of disinformation and misinformation."
At a news conference Wednesday, the zoo's director, Manuel Mollinedo, would not respond directly to Geragos' assertions, saying that whatever triggered the 4-year-old tiger's attack would be uncovered by the police investigation.
"All I know is that something prompted our tiger to jump out of her enclosure," said Mollinedo, who left the Los Angeles Zoo in 2004.
Mollinedo also declined to comment on Geragos' charge that zoo employees failed to act when his clients -- bloody from the attack -- told them that a tiger was loose.
A zoo security guard "was completely disinterested in helping," Geragos contended in a telephone interview.
He said the brothers were refused shelter in the zoo's Terrace Cafe by employees.
With the zoo set to reopen today, officials tried to reassure the public that visitors would be safe. The 12 1/2 -foot wall around the tigers' enclosure will be raised to 19 feet, mostly with glass panels, Mollinedo said. The barrier around the 1940s-vintage grotto was more than 3 feet below the height recommended by a national zoological group.
The lions and tigers will be off-limits to the public until the expected completion of the fence in 30 days.
In addition, a public-address system will be activated throughout the zoo to alert visitors to emergencies. Mollinedo said such a system was in place until about 15 years ago, but was removed for unknown reasons.
