DESI SPOTTING: Two Desi Brothers Among Tiger Attack Victims
Saturday, Dec. 29 UPDATE...Video from NBC Nightly News:
New details in tiger attack
Dec. 29 UPDATE... From Lisa Tsering, reporter, India West:
Regarding what I'm calling the "tiger twins" coverage, my photographer Som Sharma and I spent three hours camped outside the Dhaliwals' house in San Jose, along with around 2 dozen other media. We were the only South Asian press present. They left the hospital in the afternoon but unfortunately didn't go home -- no doubt they're trying to evade all of us!
ORIGINAL POSTING, Friday, Dec. 28:
The big news on Christmas Day in the U.S., two days 
before Benazir Bhutto's assassination, was that of a tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo. A 350-pound Siberian tiger named Tatiana (seen here in a Flickr photo) killed one young man and put two others in the hospital before being shot to death by the police.
The identity of the dead victim, Carl Sousa, Jr., has been made public and his parents have been interviewed on TV and elsewhere over the last couple of days. But the names of the two other victims, who are brothers and frinds of Sousa's, were not revealed. Until today. From a report this morning by the AP's Jordan Robertson and Marcus Wolhsen:
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 police shot it to death.
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.
After interviewing the brothers, 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, she said.
<snip>
Police have not addressed whether the victims had teased the tiger.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.
From the San Francisco Chronicle's John Coti, Jaxon Van Derbeken, Leslie Fulbright:
When Carlos Sousa Jr. didn't show up for Christmas dinner, his father called several of his son's friends - including the two brothers injured in the tiger attack that killed the teen.
Either Amritpal "Paul" Dhaliwal, 19, or his 23-year-old brother Kulbir Dhaliwal answered the phone and told Sousa Sr. that his son wasn't with them. In reality, the three young men were either on their way to or had already arrived at the San Francisco Zoo, where they would later be mauled by a 350-pound Siberian tiger.
"I said, 'Have you seen my son?' and he said, 'No,' then he wished me a merry Christmas," the father said.
The Dhaliwal brothers remained in stable condition Thursday, recovering from their injuries at San Francisco General Hospital. Their relatives, reached Thursday at their home on a quiet San Jose cul-de-sac, declined to speak to reporters.
"We have no comment at this time," said the boys' 25-year-old brother Sunny Dhaliwal, adding that his family wanted to speak to the boys and hospital staff before talking publicly about the incident.
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.
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.
Thursday, police interviewed the two brothers, as well as Sousa's father. Authorities didn't release the details of the interviews but did say their investigation showed that the tiger first attacked the older brother.
We will keep abreast of this story and post updates. Post your comments, links and thoughts below.
I grieve when I think of all the tigers and other majestic animals that have died needlessly all over the world at the hands of poachers and because of man's destruction of their habitat. I have no compassion when the tables get turned.
Posted by: Nasser | December 28, 2007 at 10:56 PM
It is really sad that criminal low-lives will get away with actions resulting in the death of a beautiful animal and even make money off it
Posted by: Tiger Friend | December 31, 2007 at 02:20 AM
yay
tiger is man's best friend, accordidng to jim corbett who killed 32 mean-eating big cats in the 30's in india. corbett is tiger's best friend because he restored tiger to his reputation as man's best friend after he had eliminated the rogues. one of those tigers was a circus escapee. at i pm, which was his feed time, he would kill a human. the killing spree continued for months before jim corbett threw the book at him and, lo and behold, lottsa lives were saved.
friends should try and sleep with tigers a few nights. gender and religion, no bar.
Posted by: panditjugalkishoreshastri | December 31, 2007 at 12:33 PM
It is about decency and respect. I would imagine Pandit Ji would not be too happy if people came into his house, vodka bottle in hand and threw slingshots at him. What wrong did the tiger do?
The poor beasts are poached, hunted, their territory invaded by people that repeatedly by their behavior/action have proven to be most unworthy of God's gifts.
Posted by: Tiger Friend | January 01, 2008 at 11:03 PM
decency and respect are attitudes people adopt toward people they hate. we destroy the things that we love most. tiger loved that kid that he ate. remember? tiger friend, you should move to kenya where indians are holed uu in temples a la jaya kamlani, because kenyans love hindus. Kenyans have four finger shots of vodka (straight up) and spend their life dancing to congo rhythms. you need spiritual music so you can dance too. any shahrukh khan 'remix' album will do the trick.
moral: don't you wish you could talk like me. alternatively, you could keep your mouth closed and claim it as a virtue.
Posted by: panditjugalkishoreshastri | January 02, 2008 at 09:50 AM