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San Francisco Zoo Settles with Brothers after 2007 Tiger Attack

Two brothers who survived an attack by a Siberian tiger at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day 2007 have settled with the Zoo. The Zoo has agreed to pay Kulbir and Amritpal Dhaliwal $900,000 to settle the claims.

On Christmas day 2007, Tatiana, a 243 pound Siberian tiger escaped from her enclosure, attacking the two brothers as well as their friend 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. Sousa was killed in the animal attack, and the two brothers were left injured. Both Kulbir and Amritpal fled to the zoo café where the tiger followed them. The police was late to arrive, and response was further delayed because the security guards had enforced a lockdown of the premises, to prevent Tatiana from escaping the zoo premises. The Dhaliwal brothers suffered severe tiger bite wounds and claw wounds. The tiger was shot dead.

The settlement with the zoo comes a few days after attorneys for the brothers filed court documents, claiming that police officers had been ordered to issue arrest warrants for the brothers, accusing them of manslaughter in Sousa’s death. According to the court documents, the warrants had been issued to deflect attention away from the city’s negligence in the animal attack, and to intimidate Kulbir and Amritpal.

Soon after the animal attack, San Francisco city and zoo authorities suggested that the tigress was provoked into attacking the three men. The zoo director insisted that there is no way that Tatiana could have escaped the enclosure on her own. Some sources reported that sticks and pinecones were found inside the enclosure, which were probably thrown at Tatiana. Amritpal, who was 19 at the time of the attack, told Sousa’s father that the three had been yelling and waving the tiger just before she attacked them. Toxicology tests confirmed that the three including Sousa, had smoked Marijuana and drank alcohol at the time of the attack. The BMW that the brothers had used on that fateful day also contained bottles of alcohol and Marijuana.

The Associations of Zoos and Aquariums recommends walls for big cat enclosures to be 15.5 feet. Two days after the attack, the San Francisco zoo retracted its claim that the wall was 18 feet after it measured and found the wall to be just 12.5 feet. Besides, an autopsy conducted on Tatiana who was shot dead after the attack, found pieces of concrete on her paws which seem to indicate that she clambered up the wall, and out of the enclosure.

Right from the beginning, there were attempts made to vilify Kulbir and Amritpal. Much was made of their alcohol use, and a lot of attention was given to whether they had been taunting or teasing the tiger before the animal attack. All of this is utterly unimportant. It makes no difference whether the two brothers were simply standing by the enclosure, or teasing the big cat. The fact is that a large predatory animal was allowed to escape the confines of her enclosure due to the small sized moat wall. It’s inexcusable that a 243-pound animal was able to climb out of her enclosure and attack visitors. The zoo was clearly in the wrong because of its failure to construct a wall enclosure according to AZA recommendations.

You may not agree with Kulbir and Amritpal Dhaliwal’s behavior at the time of attack, but there is no denying that zoo negligence led to the tiger being able to climb out and attack visitors.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of animal attacks. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

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