Latest reports on the news are that the guys might have been closer than they should have, but don't take it as gospel until it is confirmed.
Deadly US zoo tiger may have had escape help: report
December 28, 2007 - 6:03AM
Source: ABC
A tiger that escaped from its den at San Francisco Zoo and mauled three visitors, killing one, may have been helped out by one of its victims dangling a leg into its enclosure, reports said.
The San Francisco Chronicle said police found blood and a shoe inside the tiger exhibit and were probing the possibility that one of the victims may have placed a leg over the edge of a protective moat, aiding the tiger's escape.
Police and zoo officials are baffled as to how the animal managed to escape from an enclosure separated from the viewing area by the 6.1-metre deep moat and a wall taller than 20 feet.
The Chronicle cited unnamed sources close to the investigation as saying that evidence found at the scene "included a shoe and blood in an area between the gate and the edge of the ... moat."
The body of 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr was found near the exhibit. He had been killed by a slash to the throat.
The other two victims, brothers age 19 and 23 who accompanied Mr Sousa to the zoo, were present when the tiger escaped, the report said.
"The injured victims fled, leaving a trail of blood, which police believe the tiger followed up a zoo pathway," the report said.
The four-year-old tiger, named Tatiana, attacked one of the brothers before police were able to distract the animal and shoot it dead.
"Somebody created a situation that really agitated her and gave her some sort of a method to break out," zoo director Manuel Mollinedo was quoted as telling the newspaper.
"There is no possible way the cat could have made it out of there in a single leap. I would surmise that there was help," he said. "A couple of feet dangling over the edge could possibly have done it."
The report also said "pinecones and sticks that were found in the moat might have been thrown at the animal. Those items could not have landed in the grotto naturally," according to the sources.
Still, police sergeant Neville Gittens cautioned that "there was no reason to think that the victims were taunting the tiger," it said. The two men have been recovering in hospital and are listed as serious but stable.
The 136-kilogram tiger attacked the arm of a zookeeper during a public feeding session at the facility last year.
Meanwhile, the grieving parents of the teenager killed in Tuesday's Christmas Day attack have criticised safety measures at the zoo.
"They didn't do enough for the public, because I think the zoo should be protective on both sides, protective for the people and protective for the animals," the boy's father, also called Carlos, told CNN.
Mr Sousa's mother meanwhile told the network that Christmas would never be the same for them. "This is supposed to be the day for giving, not to take," Marilza Sousa said. "And he was taken away from me."
- AFP
