KEY POINTS:
SAN FRANCISCO - The San Francisco Zoo reopened on Thursday, nine days after an escaped 113kg Siberian tiger killed one visitor and mauled two others before police shot it to death.
Families said they were enjoying their rainy-day visit and only mildly disappointed that the zoo's four remaining tigers were behind locked red doors posted with the sign: "The lions and tigers are not on exhibit until further notice."
A tall fence wrapped in green tarp blocked the road to the big cat grottos. Construction crews were adding nearly two metres of glass to the wall that separates the cats from their admirers. Chronicle reported on Thursday that an eyewitness told police she saw several boys taunting the big cats near closing time that day.
Police have also discovered a vodka bottle in the car of Sousa's two mauled companions, brothers Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, police spokesman Steve Mannina said.
"As the details come out, it looks more and more like there were some instances of taunting or something that caused Tatiana to come out of her cage," said Sam Singer, part of the zoo's newly hired crisis management team. "If taunting occurred on Christmas Day, that would give people a different impression of what happened here."
The zoo has been criticized by the Dhaliwals' attorney, Mark Geragos, for taking more than 30 minutes to call the police emergency number after the brothers reported a tiger was loose.
Geragos has also pointed out that the wall separating Tatiana from the public was built in the 1940s and only 3.8-metres high, short of the 4.9 metres urged by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for modern tiger enclosures.
- REUTERS
