Teen Killed By Tiger Died Saving Friend

Cops, Family Say Carlos Sousa Jr. Tried To Distract Tiger; Zoo Under Fire For Low Enclosure

(CBS/AP)  The last minutes of a 17-year-old boy's life were spent trying to save his friend from a brutal tiger mauling at the San Francisco Zoo, only to have the animal turn on him, police and family members said.

Carlos Sousa Jr. and his friend's brother desperately tried to distract the 350-pound Siberian tiger, but the big cat instead came after Sousa.

"He didn't run. He tried to help his friend, and it was him who ended up getting it the worst," the teen's father, Carlos Sousa Sr., said Thursday after meeting with police.

The heroic portrait of Sousa and a timeline of the dramatic Christmas Day attack emerged as officials revealed that the tiger's escape from its enclosure may have been aided by walls that were well below the height recommended by the accrediting agency for the nation's zoos.

San Francisco Zoo Director Manuel A. Mollinedo acknowledged that the wall around the animal's pen was just 12½ feet high, after previously saying it was 18 feet. According to the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the walls around a tiger exhibit should be at least 16.4 feet high.

Mollinedo said it was becoming increasingly clear the tiger leaped or climbed out, perhaps by grabbing onto a ledge. Investigators have ruled out the theory the tiger escaped through a door behind the exhibit.

"She had to have jumped," he said. "How she was able to jump that high is amazing to me."

Mollinedo said safety inspectors had examined the wall, built in 1940, and never raised any red flags about its size.

"When the AZA came out and inspected our zoo three years ago, they never noted that as a deficiency," he said. "Obviously now that something's happened, we're going to be revisiting the actual height."

The 4-year-old tiger, a female named Tatiana, went on a rampage near closing time Tuesday, killing Sousa and severely injuring the two others before it was shot to death by police.

Brothers Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, were at San Francisco General Hospital with severe bite and claw wounds. Their names were provided by hospital and law enforcement sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the family had not yet given permission to release their names.

A man accompanying family members outside the house later told a reporter that the family would have nothing to say until after consulting with a lawyer, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

Police said Kulbir Dhaliwal was the animal's first victim.

As the tiger clawed and bit him, Sousa and the younger brother yelled in hopes of scaring it off him, police said. The cat then went for Sousa, slashing his neck as the brothers ran to a zoo cafe for help.

After killing the teenager, the tiger followed a trail of blood left by Kulbir Dhaliwal about 300 yards to the cafe, where it mauled both men, police said.

Four officers who had already discovered Sousa's body then arrived and found the cat sitting next to one of the bloodied brothers, police Chief Heather Fong said. The victim yelled, "Help me! Help me!" and the animal resumed its attack, Fong said.

The officers used their patrol car lights to distract the tiger, and it turned and began approaching them, leading all four to open fire, killing the animal, she said.

Police are still investigating how Tatiana was able to leave the enclosure.

At least one expert said the wall was low enough for the tiger to leap to the top.

Zoo officials said a "moat" separating the habitat from the public viewing area that measured 33 feet across contained no water, and has never had any. They did not address whether that affected the tiger's ability to get out.

"I think it could be feasible for a cat that has been taunted or angered," Jack Hanna, former director of the Columbus Zoo, said Thursday. "I don't think it would ever just do it to do it."

Police have not addressed whether the victims had teased the tiger.

The Dhaliwal brothers have been hostile to police in the current death investigation and were "extremely belligerent" in an earlier encounter with police this year, authorities say.

After the zoo attack, authorities said, the brothers had refused to give their own names, identify the victim or initially give authorities an account of what occurred, reports the Chronicle.

On Thursday, Fong denied earlier reports that police were looking into the possibility that the victims had dangled a leg or other body part over the edge of the moat, after a shoe and blood was found inside the enclosure. No shoe was found inside, but a shoeprint was found on the railing of the fence surrounding the enclosure, and police are checking it against the shoes of the three victims, she said.

AZA spokesman Steven Feldman said the minimum recommended height of 16.4 feet is just a guideline and that a zoo could still be deemed safe even if its wall were lower.

Accreditation standards require "that the barriers be adequate to keep the animals and people apart from each other," Feldman said. "Obviously something happened to cause that not to be the case in this incident."

Many other U.S. zoos have significantly higher walls around their tigers.

Mollinedo said surveillance cameras and new fencing will be installed around the exhibit. The zoo was to remain closed Friday.

[gaye5]

As I read this story, my heart stopped in horror and I felt so much for this brave kid who tried to save his friends, until I got down to the part where it said that even in the horror of their friend having been mauled to death by this tiger that they refused to give their names or the names of the victim..bells then started to ring...something fishy here...

[magoo2u1]

"Teen Killed By Tiger Died Saving Friend".
Sounds like maybe there''''s one less as$-hole in the world today. And I''''m not referring to the poor tiger. May he rest in peace."

And those dam 5 year olds too!! Gee, let me see, your friend just died and the cops are acting like he deserved it, you don''t like their attitude- yep smear them in the press and the lame dorks out there will believe it''s true from 2 thousand miles away. I can''t believe they let you people vote. God help us if you ever get on a jury.

[Krazcarl]

OK make a fellow a hero if he would have let tht cat alone, their would be no prblem...

[Krazcarl]

OK make a fellow a hero if he would have let tht cat alone, their would be no prblem...

[cdfoxtrot]

"Teen Killed By Tiger Died Saving Friend".
Sounds like maybe there''s one less as$-hole in the world today. And I''m not referring to the poor tiger. May he rest in peace.

[nothappyatall]

Their names were provided by hospital and law enforcement sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the family had not yet given permission to release their names. "

Nice, so some anonyMOUSE moron tells the media ANYWAY against the family''s wishes.


"The Dhaliwal brothers have been hostile to police in the current death investigation and were "extremely belligerent" in an earlier encounter with police this year, authorities say.

After the zoo attack, authorities said, the brothers had refused to give their own names, identify the victim or initially give authorities an account of what occurred,"

Right, a SURE sign they were doing something there other than just visiting the sights

[rowdytexan2]

Taunt a tiger and get bit...makes sense to me.

In the kingdom of nature and the wild, you are forced to take responsibility for your actions.

[feelfree1]

Some people risk their own safety for their friends, other people shoot their friends in the face with a shotgun.

To each his own.

[walt1944-2009]

Yesterday, these kids were tauting the tiger, today they are heroes! And, naturally, it''s all the dead cat''s fault.

It isn''t "rocket science" to follow the old rule that if you leave an animal alone, it will leave you alone! Even with a wall that was too short, you are going to tell me that a cat will leap a 33 foot moat, filled or not, to go after 3 "innocent" punks because it wanted to get to know them better? Maybe "flying pigs" helped it across!

As I said yesterday, I have seen plenty of kids AND adults throw trash at animals in zoos or stick arms or legs into cages, and when the animal attacks them, it''s the animal that gets the rap!

I still say it''s the people that belong in cages and the animals should be running free!

[Razzl]

It appears the tiger was the victim here, killed in the crossfire of lunatic human social interaction it wasn''t programmed by nature to understand...