San Francisco Zoo

The city attorney wants permission to inspect the car and cellphones belonging to the two brothers who survived a tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo. Deputy City Atty. James Hannawalt sent a letter Friday to the brothers' lawyer, Mark Geragos about photographs and call logs that were on the phones before the Christmas Day mauling that claimed the life of 17-year-old Carlos Sousa. San Francisco police have the phones, but the brothers, Kulbir and Paul Dhaliwal, have refused to authorize investigators to examine the contents, according to the city attorney's office.

One of the men mauled in a Christmas Day tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo desperately pleaded for help from a 911 dispatcher and begged to know why it was taking so long to get it, according to a recording of the call released Tuesday. The dispatcher told the young man that paramedics could not come to his aid until they could be sure they weren't in danger of being attacked themselves, according to the recording. The 911 call came from either Paul or Kulbir Dhaliwal, the brothers who were attacked along with their friend Carlos Sousa Jr. outside the tiger's enclosure.

The San Francisco Zoo has settled a lawsuit with two brothers who survived the tiger attack on Christmas Day 2007 that killed their friend. The zoo issued a statement saying it was thankful the lawsuit with Kulbir and Amirtpal "Paul" Dhaliwal had been settled. The brothers survived an attack by an escaped Siberian tiger. Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, was killed. Sousa's parents also reached a settlement with the zoo. Details of both lawsuits remain secret.

The Ultimate in Travel Welcome to the second Ultimate Guide. This week's issue of the Travel section focuses on the best of the Golden State. You'll find even more information, including photo galleries and videos from reporter Christopher Reynolds' coastal trip, at latimes.com/ultimateguide2009. Next week, look for the Ultimate Guide to the World. -- Times staff New clothes Legoland California quickly updated the new presidential inauguration scene at the Carlsbad theme park to more closely resemble the wardrobes worn by First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha.

The parents of a 17-year-old boy killed by an escaped tiger at the San Francisco Zoo have reached a settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit, their lawyer said Friday. Financial terms were undisclosed, but attorney Michael Cardoza said the zoo agreed to erect and maintain a bench in memory of Carlos Sousa Jr. as part of the settlement. The San Francisco Zoological Society's insurance carrier will pay the entire settlement, and no public funds will be used to close the claim, Cardoza said.

Under glowering skies Thursday, visitors started streaming back into the San Francisco Zoo, reopened nine days after a fatal tiger attack. Within minutes, several visitors had placed bouquets and other mementos at a makeshift shrine just inside the zoo's entrance. A zoo spokeswoman said memorials would be welcomed both for Carlos Sousa Jr.

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.

Less than three weeks after an escaped tiger killed a teenager at the San Francisco Zoo, two new incidents have surfaced that are bringing fresh attention to the facility's handling of its exhibits. Zoo officials said Friday that a nearly 100-pound snow leopard ripped a small opening in its wire mesh cage -- which was inside a bigger secured enclosure -- Thursday afternoon and got part of its head and paw through the gash.

A tiger lurked in the tall grass at a park in India as gamekeepers tried to shoot it with a dart gun and missed. The cat sprang from the grass, sailed through the air and attacked a man on an elephant's back. The man lost three fingers. "I could never imagine that a tiger could so effortlessly leap from the ground onto an adult elephant's head, which is at least 12 feet above the ground," Vivek Menon, executive director of Wildlife Trust of India, said of the 2004 attack, a video of which has been circulating via YouTube.

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.