The two brothers who survived a tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo three months ago have filed claims against the city of San Francisco, seeking an unspecified amount of compensation, a report said Friday.
Kulbir and Paul Dhaliwal of San Jose, California, contend they suffered serious injuries and emotional harm when a Siberian tiger escaped its enclosure and attacked them on Christmas day. The tiger killed the 19-year-old Carlos Sousa, a friend of the Dhaliwal brothers.
The claim against the city, which was filed Thursday by a Los Angeles attorney representing the brothers, state that Kulbir Dhaliwal, 24, had to have surgery on both knees because of his wounds in the attack, according to a report on the website of the San Francisco Chronicle daily.
Under California state law, city officials have 45 days to accept the claim or reject it and open the doors to a lawsuit.
The Dhaliwals' claims also state that a public relations firm that the zoo hired conducted a "smear campaign" against the brothers, humiliating and degrading them. Media reports had suggested that the brothers may have done something to provoke the tiger attack.
The investigation after the fatal attack found that the zoo's tiger enclosure wall was over one meter shorter than the height recommended by a national accreditation group. The zoo is owned by the city of San Francisco and operated by the nonprofit San Francisco Zoological Society.
Source: Xinhua
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