Fatal Tiger Attack at San Francisco Zoo

         

 

         SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- On Christmas, it will be five years since the deadly. There have been two tiger attacks at the San Francisco Zoo, both involving a 4 year old Siberian Tiger named Tatiana (June 27, 2003 — December 25, 2007). In the first incident, a zookeeper was bitten on the arm during a public feeding. During the second incident two people were injured and one killed, before the tiger was fatally shot by police officers.
          Tatiana was born in Denver on June 27, 2003. She was brought to the San Francisco Zoo on December 16, 2005 to provide a 14-year-old Siberian tiger, Tony, with a mate. Tony's prior companion, Emily, had died of cancer of the spleen in late 2005. Tatiana had no record of aggression towards humans.
          During a public feeding on December 22, 2006, Tatiana clawed and bit veteran zookeeper Lori Komejan's arm which was pulled between the cage bars. Komejan's right arm was severely injured as a result. The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration later found the zoo at fault due to inadequate safety precautions and inadequate staff training. The San Francisco Zoo was fined US$18,000 for the incident. The Zoo decided not to euthanize Tatiana after the attack on Komejan; then-director Manuel Mollinedo said "the tiger was acting as a normal tiger does.
          On December 25, 2007, Tatiana escaped from her open-air enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo and attacked three visitors shortly after closing time. After escaping from the tiger grotto, Tatiana killed one patron, Carlos Eduardo Sousa Jr., and injured two brothers, Amritpal "Paul" and Kulbir Dhaliwal. The brothers fled to the zoo cafe approximately 300 yards (270 m) away and, according to initial reports, left a trail of blood that the tiger followed. Paul Dhaliwal began screaming outside the locked Terrace Cafe, prompting an employee to call 9-1-1 at 5:07 pm.

          Police response was initially delayed, in part because cafe personnel who called the police voiced suspicions that perhaps the allegations of an animal attack were being made by a mentally unstable person. When the police and fire crews arrived at the zoo, they were further delayed by zoo security guards who were enforcing a lockdown so that the tiger would not escape the zoo grounds.