Young man attacked by zoo tiger pleaded for help

Associated Press Writers

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- One of the men mauled in a tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo pleaded for help from a 911 dispatcher and asked why it was taking so long to get it, according to a recording of the call released Tuesday.

The dispatcher told the young man that paramedics could not come to his aid until they could be sure they weren't in danger of being attacked themselves, according to the recording.

One of brothers Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal made the 911 call from outside a zoo cafe, though it was not immediately clear which one of them made the call.

"It's a matter of life and death!" the young man shouts minutes into the call.

"I understand that, but at the same time we have to make sure the paramedics don't get chewed out, because if the paramedics get hurt then nobody's going to help you," the dispatcher replies.

Seconds later, the brother shouts, "My brother's about to die out here!"

The 911 dispatcher tells him to calm down before the frustrated caller asks, "Can you fly a helicopter out here? Because I don't see a (expletive) ambulance."

By the time the call heard on the nearly seven-minute recording begins, the escaped Siberian tiger already had killed the Dhaliwals' friend, 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr., outside the animal's enclosure and was creeping closer to the cafe.

"At the cafe, we have the tiger!" an officer shouts into his radio just after 5:27 p.m., according to a recording of police dispatch traffic, about four minutes after the call between the brother and the 911 dispatcher ends. "We have the tiger attacking the victim!"

Less than a minute later, another call comes over the radio to stop shooting.

"We have the cat. We shot the cat," an officer says. "The victim is being attended to."

The brothers suffered serious bite and claw wounds. Zoo officials say the tiger had climbed or jumped over the wall surrounding its pen and have acknowledged that the wall was 4 feet shorter than the recommended minimum.

A lawyer for the brothers has said help did not arrive for more than 30 minutes after they first reported the attack. Zoo officials have said that zoo personnel behaved heroically.

The recordings also reveal disbelief among zoo employees about the escape.

An unidentified male zoo employee on the opposite side of the tiger's enclosure from where the three friends were attacked called 911 at 5:05 p.m. to relay a report from a female employee who encountered the frantic brothers outside the cafe.

The 911 call captured the conversation between the two employees.

"I don't know if they are on drugs or not," the woman is overheard speaking on his two-way radio. "They are screaming about an animal that has attacked them and there isn't an animal out. He is talking about a third person, but I don't see a third person."

The man then tries to relay her remarks, when the female employee interjects: "He is saying he got attacked by a lion."

The man is heard on the 911 call, saying, "That is virtually impossible. ... I can't imagine how he could have possibly gotten attacked by a lion. He would have had to have gotten in. I just cant see it."

"I think this guy is on something. He is really agitated," the woman says.

"They don't know if he got attacked by a lion. They are both very agitated and they might be on drugs," the man tells the dispatcher.

At 5:10 p.m., five minutes after the first 911 call was made, word reaches the male employee that an animal was loose. He starts telling other visitors that they must leave the grounds immediately.

"We have a Code 1. They say they have a tiger out," he told the dispatcher.

The extent of Sousa's injuries became known at 5:15 p.m., when either a paramedic or another zoo employee is heard over the radio reporting a fatality. "This person needs help now," he said.