While the media has caught the zoo in its headlights with blinding intensity, the young men who may have set this tragedy in motion remain in the shadows. After almost two months, we still know almost nothing about them. The survivors have never granted a public interview, and most of the information we have comes from police and court records of past arrests for anti-social behavior. We know that they are brothers. They are 19 and 23 years of age and live in San Jose, California. Their father is a postal employee, and their mother is a housewife. The older brother may have worked as a security guard in the past. Residents of their neighborhood have come forward to complain of the brothers' lack of respect and anti-social behavior at their Pipe Dream Court residence. How can we still know so little about the two men who are at the center of an event that has shaken our city like the San Andreas Fault? See http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_7960021?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com&nclick_check=1What does the police blotter provided by the media tell us? Among other things, we know that the youngest of the two survivors was on felony probation on Christmas day and had been previously arrested for driving under the influence at speeds up to 140 mph on public streets in his home town of San Jose. Included in the charges are battery on a police officer and resisting arrest. I have not heard that his probation has been revoked, and his next hearing is set for March 28, 2008. Related charges have been filed against his older brother. See http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/16/MN51UFVP4.DTL
On Christmas day, the survivors have now admitted that all three were under the influence of both alcohol and marijuana to a varying degree. The youngest of them had lied to his own family and left his mother to celebrate Christmas alone in order to join the two brothers on that hour-long drive to the zoo. When the youngest's father called and spoke to one of the brothers, he was told that his son was not with them. Only a few hours later, that young man lay dead in the dusk near Tatiana's grotto. His best "friends" refused to provide his name (or their own) to the police, so the seventeen year-old remained unidentified until the next day when the Coroner notified his family. See http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/31/BAB2U7625.DTL
From almost the beginning at the Gate, negative posts began to appear accusing anyone who criticized the survivors as "racists." If you are unaware, I doubt that there is a more feared or dreaded slur in the Bay Area. (You might be better off insulting someone's mother.) Any post that mentioned the survivors' past criminal actions was met by a small, but determined group of contributors who cyber chanted "racist," or "racist haters," ad nauseam. Even after all of the Gatekeepers' deletions over past days, 362 pages of comments with 3,613 entries still remain on just one article. See http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/19/MNKDUHQRQ.DTL&hw=mauling+investigation+winding+down&sn=001&sc=1000
The majority of the Gate's readers held the survivors responsible. In an informal and unscientific poll the Gate recorded 5,809 votes. 82% of voters held the brothers to be solely responsible. Some of that majority posted comments demanding vengeance, instead of justice and made crude suggestions as to how the two brothers might be punished for their alleged crimes. No picture had yet been released of the survivors, and their names had been withheld from the public by their own request. No one could know, unless they were a friend or acquaintance, what ethnicity they might or might not represent; yet the ugly accusations continued unabated and unchecked by the Gatekeepers. [Note: The role of the Gatekeepers will be examined in further detail in Part III which examines censorship issues. Even after recent deletions and removal of posts sympathetic to the zoo or to Tatiana, 362 pages of comments with 3,613 entries still remain on just one article. See http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/19/MNKDUHQRQ.DTL&hw=mauling+investigation+winding+down&sn=001&sc=1000
If the Gate's majority speculated in curiosity or anger, it wasn't as if there were many facts to contradict conjecture. Very few facts are available even now, but the circumstances alone would make any thinking person wonder about this unprecedented event. Tatiana's enclosure had stood since its construction by the WPA in the 1930's. No zoo visitor had ever been attacked outside her grotto in all those years, but these visitors brought with them anti-social backgrounds and a history of high-risk behaviors when they drove to the zoo and arrived near closing that day. They drove more than an hour on a damp and chilly holiday with a bottle of alcohol and a synthetic urine kit to keep them company. (Their hometown of San Jose has a fine zoo of its own.) One was then on felony probation and was forbidden liquor, but his blood alcohol at .16 measured twice the legal limit some time after the tragedy that was to come. See http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/01/05/MNVKU9L9L.DTL
In about an hour after their arrival, the youngest of the trio lay dead. In the cold darkness of that Christmas night, a beautiful and highly endangered Amur tiger also lay still. She had been shot and killed by the San Francisco Police. The two brothers were injured but would heal quickly and be released from the hospital within the week. Given just those facts, any sensible person would have to wonder what made Christmas Day 2007 so very different from every other day since the 1930's. Does it seem unreasonable that the survivors provide at least part of that answer? Tatiana cannot speak, nor can the young man who lost his life. The brothers still refuse to break their silence.
At the Gate, however, any speculation about the likelihood of the survivors' involvement brought (and still brings) a chorus of rude and disruptive chatter from a small but committed band of posters who support these men. They've ceaselessly argued that the brothers made no contribution to this tragedy, though an EMT at the scene reported that the eldest had said, "Don't tell anyone what we did." That pact of silence, if true, has never been explained though it appears to remain in effect to this day. See http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/05/MNVKU9L9L.DTL
Though the dead man's mother embraced one of the brothers at her son's funeral, two different stories were emerging. She initially reported that the younger brother told her that they "didn't do nothing," but the dead man's father told SFPD that the brother who was on felony probation had admitted that they'd stood on a 2-inch rounded rail while both drunk and stoned. They supposedly balanced on that slippery structure while they "yelled and waved their arms" at Tatiana. According to his account, Tatiana appeared out of the bushes "without warning" and attacked them; killing the young man. Even with the emergence of these conflicting (and to most readers, unbelievable) accounts, the same group of posters chanted on in defense of the brothers at the Gate. See http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_8007629 and http://www.bayareanewsgroup.com/multimedia/mn/news/tiger_searchwarrant_011808.pdf
Who wouldn't speculate on this incredible story and wonder what really happened? These conflicting accounts remain because neither survivor has ever publicly given his version of the deadly events of Christmas night. They maintained silence at the hospital. The police reported that they were "hostile" and "uncommunicative" when interviewed. They refused to give their names to SFPD and were sarcastic to the EMT taking them to the hospital. They were rude to the hospital staff. They even refused to name their "best friend" so that his parents could be told of his death. These are not the actions of normal young men in my experience. Even a samurai could be excused for babbling if he were attacked by a tiger in the darkness without warning. For two young men to remain silent under such a circumstance defies reason.
Common sense tell us that it took tremendous effort for Tatiana to scale the cement wall of her grotto. She weighed 243 lbs. at death; about 20 pounds more than the young man who died. Like him, too, she was young. Though she was an agile teenager in tiger years, her paws and claws were "shredded" according to her necropsy report. See http://www.bayareanewsgroup.com/multimedia/mn/news/tiger_tatiana_necropsy_report.pdf
In spite of those facts, we are asked to believe that her escape was noiseless until she "suddenly appeared" out of the bushes without warning. It staggers my imagination. There have been reports of wandering young men taunting the lions and other animals shortly before zoo closing at 5 p.m. PST. To my knowledge they have not been verified, but taunting seems to provide entertainment for some visitors. What can we do? "First and foremost, people need to be educated. We need to respect them accordingly," said Jonathan Kraft, who runs Keepers of the Wild in Arizona, which has more than 20 tigers. In the San Francisco escape, "I would bet my reputation that the animal was taunted." See http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080110-AP-tigers.html and http://www.mercurynews.com/petsheadlines/ci_8018515 for more informed opinions.
When interviewed, tiger experts seemed in agreement that something "extraordinary" happened that night. Something Tatiana had never experienced occured, and she had heard and seen "yelling and waving" on many occasions. The something "extraordinary" makes any thinking person wonder what that reported statement "Don't tell them what we did," meant to Tatiana.
No comments:
Post a Comment