San Francisco Zoo officials promised yesterday to raise the wall surrounding the grotto where a tiger escaped on Christmas Day and fatally mauled a teen.
Meanwhile, police denied that two brothers injured in the tiger attack, which killed 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr., had slingshots with them.
Zoo officials said that after years of flouting recommendations for the minimum height of a wall around a tiger enclosure, they would finally be raising it by 6 1/2 feet.
At its current 12 1/2 feet, the wall is low enough that a tiger could leap over it, experts said. The new, 19-foot wall, which will include a glass screen, would have prevented the fatal mauling, zookeepers said.
“This is going to be excellent for containment, and will put us at the top end of the spectrum,” Zoo director Manuel Mollinedo said.
The lions and tigers will be kept in their cages and not on public display until the new walls are completed in 30 day.
Visitors will be invited to leave tributes for both Sousa and Tatiana, the 4-year-old tiger who was shot by police.
The zoo reopens today.
As the mauling investigation continued, cops denied that injured victims Amritpal Dhaliwal, 19, and his brother, Kulbir, 23, had slingshots.
“A slingshot was not found in their car at the hospital or in the zoo,” said Sgt. Steve Mannina.
A city official with knowledge of the investigation told The Post about the slingshots, and also said an empty vodka bottle was found in their car.
Cops and zoo officials confirmed they discovered the bottle.
Mollinedo would not comment yesterday on whether the attack was provoked with a slingshot, but said there was little doubt some outside action incited the animal.
“All I know is something prompted the tiger to leap out,” he said, adding that signs will be posted around the zoo urging visitors to be respectful of the animals.
The Dhaliwal family has hired celebrity attorney Mark Geragos, who claims zoo officials waited half an hour to call 911 after the brothers ran to the zoo cafe for help. According to police dispatch logs from the day of the attack, someone in the cafe called 911 at 5:07 p.m.
By 5:10 p.m., zoo employees reported that a tiger was loose, and by 5:13 p.m., the zoo was being evacuated and locked down.
By 5:20 p.m., medics had located one victim with a large puncture hole to his neck. The tiger was still loose.
At 5:27 p.m., less than 20 minutes after the initial reports, the officers found the tiger and killed it. With Post Wire Services