Animal Attacks

It was any zoo's worst nightmare. Shortly after 5 p.m. on Christmas Day, San Francisco Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo received a call at home: Tigers are on the loose and somebody may have been hurt. "At first I thought it was a practical or sick joke," he recalled in an interview. "But I took it seriously and grabbed my jacket and got in the car and drove to the zoo." Soon, the gravity of the situation became all too clear.

One of the three victims of the San Francisco Zoo tiger attack was intoxicated and admitted standing atop a railing of the big-cat enclosure and yelling and waving at the animal that would later maul them, killing his friend, police said in court documents filed Thursday. Paul Dhaliwal, 19, told the father of Carlos Sousa Jr.

The bear is still there. When Johan Otter runs through the city streets in Sunday's Los Angeles Marathon, he will do so in unmarked clothes, a gentle gait, seemingly very much alone. Yet he will have 400 pounds of company. The giant grizzly he once fought to protect his daughter will be felt with every step. "In many ways," he says quietly, "the bear never left." The grizzly will be there in the simple cap he wears on his head.

Friends and colleagues of an animal trainer killed by a performing bear called it a "freak accident" Wednesday and said the 700-pound grizzly should not be euthanized. The animal, they said, did not intend to kill the bear expert. "The same thing he was doing I have done a hundred times.

A major pro surfing competition begins today at Lower Trestles near San Clemente, just four days after a fatal shark attack occurred 30 miles down the coast. But for many in the field of 192, there will be too much at stake in the Trestles lineup to be concerned about what lurks below. The 6.0 Lowers Pro, sponsored by Nike and running through Saturday, is an $80,000 Assn.

A rash of coyote attacks on children in the Inland Empire in the last week has led to the closure of a Chino Hills park, and wildlife officials are warning parents to be more cautious around the increasingly bold animals. "People cannot be ambivalent about coyotes," said Harry Morse, spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game. "When that coyote starts toward you, it's not coming to be nice." Since Friday, two children have been attacked.

Concerns over recent coyote attacks in the Inland Empire escalated Friday when wildlife officials said two more children in Lake Arrowhead may have been bitten and a woman in Temecula reported having to drive a stubborn coyote out of her house. "They are behaving abnormally," said Steven Martarano, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game. "They have lost their fear of people for whatever reason."

A young woman walked into a restaurant last week and sat close enough to get a good look at Anne Hjelle's face. A mountain lion had torn off the left side four years before, leaving it hanging by a flap of skin. Six surgeries hadn't camouflaged the scars. "She saw me and had a deer-in-the-headlights look," said Hjelle, 35, of Mission Viejo. "She quickly got up and moved so she didn't have to look at me." The stranger's reaction didn't hurt Hjelle's feelings.

More couch potato than jungle swinger, Moe the chimp used to relax by watching animal shows at home on TV rather than romping through rain forests. That's why his owners were frantic Monday to find the 42-year-old chimpanzee raised in captivity who apparently disappeared from a refuge into San Bernardino County's mountains. A West Covina celebrity for decades, Moe is said to have been rescued from Tanzanian poachers in 1967 by St. James Davis.

An abalone diver was being treated for severe cuts to his head, torso and left arm after using a chisel to fend off a 10-foot shark. A shark expert said the animal, believed to be a great white, probably mistook the diver for a seal. A witness said the shark grabbed Eric Nerhus, 41, by the head, crushing his face mask and breaking his nose, before coming back for a second bite that engulfed his head and torso. Nerhus said he clubbed at the shark's head and eyes with an abalone chisel.