Recorded frantic calls of one of the victims attacked by an escaped Siberian tiger on Christmas in San Francisco Zoo was released, media reported Wednesday.
The recordings showed that the victims waited nearly 30 minutes until they were rescued and it also revealed zoo employees disbelieved their circumstances at first when received the call.
Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, repeatedly pleaded 911 for help, saying he and his brother were in a situation of "life and death," and a 911 dispatcher replied 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.
Dhaliwal made his first call for help at about 5:06 p.m.
"I don't know if they are on drugs or not," a woman employee of the zoo was overheard saying over a colleague's walkie-talkie. "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."
"I think this guy is on something. He is really agitated," the woman said.
"That's virtually impossible. ... I can't imagine how he could possibly have gotten attacked by a lion," said a male employee.
Four minutes later, at 5:10 p.m., word reached the male employee that an animal was loose. He started telling other visitors that they must leave the grounds immediately.
By 5:23 p.m., paramedics still had not reached the brothers, and a third one was mortally wounded.
A lawyer for the Dhaliwals said help did not reach the men for more than 30 minutes after they first reported the attack. Zoo officials claimed that zoo personnel behaved heroically during the tiger escape crisis.
The escaped tiger mauled Kulbir Dhaliwal and his 19-year-old brother, Paul, and killed their friend Carlos Sousa Jr., 17 on Christmas Day.
Source:Xinhua
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