Victim's father: Tiger was taunted

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The father of a teenager killed by a tiger at San Francisco Zoo said another victim of the Christmas attack told him the animal was provoked.

Carlos Sousa Sr., father of slain victim Carlos Sousa Jr., was quoted in a San Francisco police affidavit as saying Paul Dhaliwal, who was injured along with his brother, Kulbir, in the attack that killed Sousa, told him the three youths had been yelling and waving at the animal while standing on the railing outside the tiger's grotto before it escaped and attacked them, the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News reported Friday.

The affidavit, filed late Thursday, was used by police to obtain a search warrant for the car and cell phones used by the Dhaliwal brothers.

"As a result of this investigation," police believe "that the tiger may have been taunted/agitated by its eventual victims," police inspector Valerie Matthews wrote in the affidavit. Police believe that "this factor contributed to the tiger escaping from its enclosure and attacking its victims," she said.

The zoo also said Thursday that a bloodied sign about 18 inches inside the railing at the tiger exhibit indicates the youths may have gone into an area where the public isn't allowed, the Mercury News said.