Police, fire logs in S.F. tiger mauling show scene of chaos, delay S.F. ZOO TIGER ATTACK CREWS KEPT OUT: Police, fire logs show rescuers were stopped at gate - early call suggested victim 'making something up'

The initial report of a Christmas Day tiger attack was downplayed by San Francisco Zoo employees as the ravings of a mentally unstable person, triggering a slower police response, according to documents and sources.

And when fire crews and police arrived at the zoo, they were forced to wait outside for precious minutes by zoo security guards enforcing an emergency lockdown, emergency dispatch logs indicate.

Meanwhile, Carlos Sousa Jr. lay bleeding at the tiger exhibit for several minutes amid the confusion. It may have taken fire crews and zoo officials as long as 13 minutes from the first 911 call to find his body.

The police dispatch logs released Friday and fire dispatch records obtained by The Chronicle reflect a chaotic scene as zoo officials seemed ill-equipped to deal with a dire emergency.

Emergency responders and zoo officials, for example, spotted the cat moving about freely but waited for zoo employees with tranquilizer guns, according to the logs. Just minutes later, the tiger was viciously biting and clawing one of its victims at a cafe located 300 yards away from the tiger grotto. At the restaurant, police shot and killed the cat.

An obviously tense police Chief Heather Fong refused to take questions Friday during the sole news briefing, saying only that her investigators have "found absolutely no evidence of an intentional release" of Tatiana, the 4-year-old tiger who got out of her grotto, killed Sousa and injured two of his friends.

Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo, equally tight-lipped at the briefing, announced that the zoo will reopen Thursday. "That will allow us to get everything back in order" so the zoo can once again "provide a wonderful experience" for visitors, he said.

He and Fong then hurried back through the zoo gates, declining further comment.

The police and fire logs made available Friday, however, described the horrifying events of Christmas Day in the most detail available so far.

The first 911 call was made from a zoo phone at 5:07 p.m., the fire logs show.

Police now say the call came from a cafe worker, who related what he heard from an "agitated" Amritpal "Paul" Dhaliwal, 19, as he stood screaming outside the closed and locked Terrace Cafe on the zoo's eastern edge. The worker at that point could not even tell the dispatcher whether serious bleeding was involved.

From that account, fire dispatchers obtained a vague description of the incident, saying a lone man "was bitten by an exotic animal," and had suffered a laceration. The caller said he was not with the victim, who was reported as conscious and breathing, according to the fire dispatch logs.

Police were sent at 5:07 p.m., but law enforcement authorities familiar with the incident say the vague nature of that first call meant that the incident was not given immediate priority. One of the first reports on the police log casts doubt on the incident, suggesting that zoo authorities considered the information unreliable.

"Zoo personnel dispatch now say there are two males who the zoo thinks ... are 800 (code for mentally disturbed) and making something up ... but one is in fact bleeding from the back of the head," according to a police log at 5:10 p.m.

Just one minute before, at 5:09 p.m., fire crews on their way to the scene were told the zoo was not safe, the fire log indicates. The police, meanwhile, learned from the zoo "they have a tiger out" at 5:10 p.m. A plan was made to meet security guards at the zoo gate, but then fire crews learned that the gate was locked.

Once at the scene at 5:12 p.m., fire crews were told that zoo security had called a "Code One, meaning they can't let anyone into the zoo," according to the fire log. A "tiger is loose," the log noted again at 5:13 p.m.

Around the same time, the police logs show, the Code One was also preventing police officers from entering: "Zoo security not letting PD in."

That impasse was solved shortly afterward, the logs indicate, and the officers were let in - sometime between 5:15 and 5:18 p.m. The two logs seem to indicate varying times.

Once at the zoo, the fire log noted at 5:15 p.m., fire and police "can (see) the tiger loose" but were "waiting for the guys with the tranquilizer gun."

At 5:21, dispatchers fielded a cell phone call from Amritpal Dhaliwal and then a land line call in which dispatchers instructed him how to control his brother's bleeding. The line went dead at 5:23 p.m.

Fire crews never left their rigs during much of the incident, Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said.

According to the police log, it was about this same time, at 5:20 p.m., that crews made it to Sousa, the 17-year-old who died, outside the tiger grotto - 13 minutes after the first call. The tiger was still loose, and medics were informed that the "scene (was) not secure."

Meanwhile, near a zoo gate at Herbst Road, the emergency teams finally came upon the tiger at 5:25 p.m. - only to have it dash off a minute later. "Tiger out of sight ... don't see the animal any more," the police log reads at 5:26 p.m.

One minute later, the situation exploded.

"Have the tiger, blu on blue," the police log reads at 5:27 p.m., meaning that if one officer (blu) fires his gun, he may hit another officer (blue).

"Have tiger, on foot, attacking victim," came a few seconds later, meaning the tiger was now mauling Amritpal's 23-year-old brother, Kulbir Dhaliwal, while horrified officers watched. They were unable to shoot while the creature was so close to his victim, authorities have said, so they distracted it by shining police car lights on it.

The police log indicates the distraction took 26 seconds. Then for about four seconds, four officers fired at the tiger with their .40-caliber handguns. After that fusillade, the command came over the dispatch system: "Stop shooting."

At 5:28 p.m. one log reads, "shot the tiger at the cafe, vict(im) being attended to."

It appears from both logs that chaos continued - with "bleeding uncontrolled" on one of the victims - until 5:30, when it was noted that fire crews needed police "to move for medics to get through."

For another 15 minutes or more, authorities scrambled to learn whether other tigers were loose. They had no maps of the zoo and no emergency lights.

At 5:29 p.m., one transmission incorrectly indicated, "2nd tiger on Herbst (Road)." At 5:31 p.m., officers reported that they were getting shotgun ammunition.

Two minutes later, the danger was thought to worsen: "Per zookeeper, may be four outstanding tigers," the police log reads. A few seconds after that, dispatchers ordered: "Pull all (units) out of zoo except for units w/victims."

At 5:34 p.m. came the report that "People from (the zoo were) trapped in businesses," meaning they were locking themselves indoors. Squads of police, now armed with shotguns and thermal imaging equipment, proceeded to comb the zoo for other felines.

At 5:46 p.m., it was reported that three tigers were contained and one more might be loose. Finally, four minutes later, it was confirmed that all four were contained.

One minute later, the two surviving victims were transported to San Francisco General Hospital.

After releasing the police log Friday, Fong did not specify what possible criminal charges might be considered. However, her agency is not the only one that could recommend punishments.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, responsible for enforcing the Animal Welfare Act, could impose penalties, including fines, or suspend or revoke the zoo's exhibitor license if it is found that the zoo violated federal regulations on animal enclosures. A federal team has visited the zoo.

While officials pored over details on Friday, Carlos Sousa Sr. said his son may have been too badly injured to be saved, even with a faster and less chaotic response.

"I don't think anything would have saved him at that point," the father said. "If they had got there in five minutes and went directly to my son, maybe they would have had a chance."

Sousa Sr. said he didn't blame the policy that kept firefighters at bay while they waited for a police escort.

"They didn't want to risk their lives," he said. "If I was a paramedic and didn't know the person that was in there, I probably would have done the same thing. I would have waited until I got the OK."

But his son didn't make the same calculation in deciding to try to distract the tiger after it first attacked Kulbir Dhaliwal, Sousa Sr. said.

"For me, he's my hero, because he risked his life to save another life," Sousa Sr. said, his voice cracking with emotion. "That's the most I can say right now."

In memory A candlelight vigil for Carlos Sousa Jr. is planned for tonight at 7:30 p.m. at 1663 Tampa Court in San Jose, according to the memorial Web page at myspace.com/inmemoryofcarlossousa.