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SF Tiger Attack Survivors Made Silence Pact

Brothers vowed in ambulance not to talk to police, report says

By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff

Posted Jan 5, 2008 9:14 AM CST

(Newser) – In the ambulance to the hospital just after a tiger mauled 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. to death, paramedics heard Sousa's two friends make a pact of silence about "what we did," the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The two brothers, accused by one witness of taunting the tiger before the attack, have since refused to let police search their car, cell phone records, and photos.

The two survivors had been drinking and using marijuana at the time of the attack, the Chronicle reports. Meanwhile, the San Francisco zoo has beefed up its enclosures and is expected to open today. Zoo officials said yesterday that the wall around its polar bear enclosure, like that of the tiger enclosure, also is too low and is being raised.

Tatiana, a female Siberian tiger that killed one person and injured two others, is seen at the San Francisco Zoo in this Dec. 28, 2006, file photo. The big cat exhibit at the Zoo was cordoned off as a crime scene Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007, as investigators tried to determine...
Tatiana, a female Siberian tiger that killed one person and injured two others, is seen at the San Francisco Zoo in this Dec. 28, 2006, file photo. The big cat exhibit at the Zoo was cordoned off as a...   (Associated Press)
Zoo employees and construction workers confer inside the lion enclosure  at the San Francisco Zoo on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008, in San Francisco. The director of the Zoo brushed off criticism that two victims were denied help in the frantic moments after a fatal Christmas Day tiger attack, saying his...
Zoo employees and construction workers confer inside the lion enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008, in San Francisco. The director of the Zoo brushed off criticism that two victims...   (Associated Press)
This undated file photo provided by the San Francisco Zoo shows Tatiana, a female Siberian tiger that escaped its enclosure and killed one man and injured two others on Dec. 25, 2007 in San Francisco. The criminal investigation into the fatal tiger mauling is all but over, but zoo officials...
This undated file photo provided by the San Francisco Zoo shows Tatiana, a female Siberian tiger that escaped its enclosure and killed one man and injured two others on Dec. 25, 2007 in San Francisco....   (Associated Press)
Graphic shows tiger's pen at the San Francisco Zoo; 2c x 2 1/2 inches; 96.3 mm x 63.5 mm
Graphic shows tiger's pen at the San Francisco Zoo; 2c x 2 1/2 inches; 96.3 mm x 63.5 mm   (Associated Press)
This undated handout photo released by the Sousa family on Wednesday Dec. 26, 2007 shows Carlos Sousa Jr. in San Jose, Calif. Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, of San Jose, Calif. was killed by a tiger that escaped at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day Tuesday Dec, 25, 2007. (AP...
This undated handout photo released by the Sousa family on Wednesday Dec. 26, 2007 shows Carlos Sousa Jr. in San Jose, Calif. Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, of San Jose, Calif. was killed by a tiger that escaped...   (Associated Press)
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