Authorities Investigate Deadly Tiger Attack; 13-Year-old Girl Survives Plane Crash
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I -- I personally have gone by that -- you know, by her former exhibits on a number of occasions. I have never seen her down in that lower moat area. I only saw her up above. She usually was laying around, sunning herself. Did not see her pacing. She seemed to be very well adjusted into that exhibit. None of my staff was around yesterday when this happened. So, I really don't have a firsthand account of what actually transpired.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.</s>DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: OK. All right. That is the press conference there happening in San Francisco. You see all the reporters chasing the police chief there and also the director of the San Francisco Zoo. The new information we have gotten from this is that they have now deemed this a crime scene. They're looking at a criminal investigation. And they said it's -- it's just precautionary that they do this, to see if there was any human involvement to this tiger, this Siberian tiger, getting out. Tatiana is her name, and was also involved in a mauling of a zoo worker last year. One of the question, why wasn't she put down? And they said during the press conference she wasn't put down because after that attack and during the attack, she was acting normally. That's what a tiger would normally do, protect their food. And all of the information we have been telling you before about this attack still the same, except they're updating the media on exactly what they know and what they have put into place and what they did after the attack in order to subdue this tiger and also to get the people to safety. OK. We're going to continue to follow that. And also we're going to move on and talk about these new pictures coming out of Panama. This is a crash scene. It is our other top story here on CNN. This is pictures of the little girl, 13-year-old girl, who was rescued from a plane crash in Panama in a volcanic area. That plane went down on Sunday night. And then they found the plane and the folks on the plane, the survivor, on Christmas, and gave the word to the 13-year-old's parents that they had found her. The mother of the Francesca Lewis -- she's the 13-year-old -- has traveled to Panama to be with her daughter. Valerie Lewis is her name. She spoke with us just a very short time ago right here in the NEWSROOM.</s>VALERY LEWIS, MOTHER OF PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR: Yes, that's right. It's very tragic that the others didn't survive.</s>LEMON: Yes. How is she doing? How is Francesca doing?</s>V. LEWIS: She's doing all right. She's having tests done at the hospital right now. And, so far, things seem good.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>V. LEWIS: Kind of miraculous.</s>LEMON: Yes, why do you say that?</s>V. LEWIS: Well, we don't know the whole story, but she definitely was -- either fell or was ejected from the aircraft. We don't know.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>V. LEWIS: So, the fact that she so far doesn't seem to have any major damage is -- seems incredible.</s>LEMON: Yes, it does. And you said she's doing OK. Is talking to you, right?</s>V. LEWIS: She has talked to us, yes.</s>LEMON: She has spoken to you. Tell us about her and what kind of -- what is she saying? Does she remember anything about the crash or not?</s>V. LEWIS: We haven't really talked about that much yet. And she found herself -- well, when they found her, she was under the wing, and she thought she had been sleeping and that she would wake up and see a -- she thought she was in her home and that there was why -- was there an airplane wing in her home? So, she was delirious. I don't know if she was in and out of this sleep state or if that was sort of a preservation mode, because she was in extreme weather conditions. It was very cold, raining very hard, pretty much constantly for two-and-a-half days. So, I think her body was in survival mode.</s>LEMON: I wanted to ask you, because, as I read in this report, they said that she was up and walking around...</s>LEMON: Is that correct; do we know?</s>V. LEWIS: You know, we're not sure about that. We haven't heard anything about that. But we have not yet gotten to talk to the people who actually found her. And we want to do that, so that we can hear exactly what -- what they found and how they found her. But I believe she was lying down. And then they carefully moved her onto a gurney. And they had to carry her three-and-a-half-hours to a helicopter.</s>LEMON: Oh, goodness.</s>V. LEWIS: Through extremely rugged terrain, in torrential rain.</s>LEMON: So, tell us, between Sunday and the time they found Francesca, what was that time like for you?</s>V. LEWIS: It was a nightmare. It was a living nightmare. And we -- as soon as we got the call, we tried to get on the first plane we could. And we flew all night, and then arrived in Boquete in the late afternoon the next day, and then just spent all our time with the rescue group, which was very large. And many, local people participated. There were hundreds of people on foot climbing in the most rugged terrain looking for her, looking for them. And we tried to be as involved as we could with helping to talk to people and find out who needed what in just directions and supplies. And family members of Michael Klein live in the area and they were extremely involved also.</s>LEMON: And I imagine that people are wondering how are you getting through this. Are you just living on adrenaline right now?</s>V. LEWIS: Yes, I guess so. We're just -- we're so relieved to have her with us.</s>LEMON: Anything you want to say to the family of those who didn't make it, Ms. Lewis?</s>V. LEWIS: Well, my heart goes out to everyone. We all have been through tremendous trauma together.</s>LEMON: Yes. Tell us a little bit about Francesca, if you will. What kind of girl is she?</s>V. LEWIS: Pardon?</s>LEMON: Tell us a little bit about Francesca.</s>V. LEWIS: Oh, she's just a regular 13-year-old, healthy girl with -- having a good time at school, playing sports, doing things with her friends.</s>LEMON: Yes, and then now has survived something that seems horrific and unbelievable.</s>V. LEWIS: Yes.</s>LEMON: So, our very best to you this holiday season. We're very happy that she's OK, and, again, as well, bittersweet for everyone who's paying attention to this. Any last words?</s>V. LEWIS: I just want to thank all of the people that -- that cared so much about trying to help us. So many people tried to help, and at great effort and sacrifice and through the Christmas holiday. I mean, the most important family holiday, people were giving up that to go and trudge through the mud. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. So, we really appreciate everything that was done.</s>LEMON: That was Valery Lewis, mother of 13-year-old Francesca Lewis, who was the lone survivor of that plane crash. Cameras also caught up with her father, Kirk Lewis, while he was in Panama. You are going to hear from him right here in the CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment. A tiger goes on the hunt. Zoo-goers become its prey. And, right now, part of the San Francisco Zoo is a crime scene. Investigators are trying to figure out how a 300-pound Siberian tiger got out of its enclosure, killing one visitor and mauling two others. It happened on Christmas Day. Now, we heard minutes ago from police, who say they searched the zoo thoroughly to make sure there are no other victims. None was found. Police shot and killed the tiger last night after it again tried to attack one of the injured men.</s>HEATHER FONG, SAN FRANCISCO POLICE CHIEF: Police and fire units responded. Police units responded to the area by the terrace cafe, where they saw a tiger seated next to a person who was on the ground. The tiger turned back and began to attack that person again. Officers yelled at the tiger, yelled at the animal to stop. They did not fire immediately, for fear that they would not be able to contain their fire at the animal. When the yelling was occurring, the animal turned, and now turned towards the officers. And it is at that time that they fired.</s>LEMON: And police say they're still investigating whether the tiger managed to escape its enclosure itself or whether there was some human involvement there. Imagine this: teeth, claws and hundreds of muscle all coming at you. Animal Planet host Dave Salmoni knows what that is like. He has been up close and personal with tigers,even playing and roughhousing with him. And we talked with him earlier here in the NEWSROOM.</s>DAVE SALMONI, LARGE PREDATOR EXPERT: Every single one of those tigers has the capability of doing what this tiger did. Now, that said, it's more likely that this tiger keys on people, isn't afraid of people, which most tigers are. So, this tiger probably would have been what we call in the zoo business as a worst-case scenario. What happens if this type of tiger gets out? Because 99 percent of the time, as the Zoo Association said, when a tiger does escape, they're not going to hurt anybody, because they're usually pretty scared.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>SALMONI: It's a foreign place. People are scary. In this case, this tiger has shown a history of not being scared of people and actually being aggressive towards people. Now, that could be due to fear. It can be due to social structure, or it could be that these people showed themselves as prey by moving away. I can tell you from personal experience there's nothing more focused and scarier than a tiger coming to kill you. You can't change that tiger's mind when it decides. Now, luckily, I saw it coming every time the tigers tried to take me, and I have been trained on how to deal with that. Any human being that is faced with a tiger coming to kill him, unless you have gotten my type of training, you're really in a serious bit of trouble. You're not going to stop that cat.</s>LEMON: Well, animals escaping and attacking, it does not happen often, but, when it does, it can be absolutely terrifying. Here are a few examples from recent years.</s>LEMON (voice-over): February 24, a 140-pound jaguar mauls a zookeeper to death at the Denver Zoo. Zoo officials say the keeper broke zoo rules by opening a jaguar's cage door. The cat was shot and killed when it approached emergency workers. March 3, 2005, two chimps broke out of their cages at an animal sanctuary near Bakersfield, California. They attack and injure a man and his wife, badly maiming the man, before the sanctuary owner's son- in-law shot and killed them. July 13, 2004, a 600-pound tiger escapes from the property of a retired actor who once played Tarzan. The tiger is shot dead by a state wildlife officer. March 18, 2004, A 340-pound guerrilla escapes its pen at the Dallas Zoo and goes on a 40-minute rampage, before being shot dead by police. The gorilla picked up a toddler with it teeth and injured three other people. October 3, 2003, an attack that grabbed headlines worldwide: A tiger severely mauls Roy Horn during Siegfried & Roy's show in Las Vegas. Horn was bitten in the neck and dragged offstage, badly injured. September 28, a 300-pound gorilla named Little Joe escapes its enclosure at the Boston Zoo, injuring a 2-year-old girl and a zoo workers before being tranquilized. The gorilla managed to dodge his handlers and the cops for more than two hours.</s>LEMON: Well, the San Francisco Zoo is closed today. Officials hope to reopen tomorrow, but the lion and tiger house will be off limits to the public. If you would like to know more about the type of tiger that attacked and track its deadly path at the zoo, well, check out CNN.com. You can also read about other recent animal attacks. That's all at CNN.com. More NEWSROOM in just a moment. But, first, we want to tell you about this. what makes an exhibit with big cats safe for you and your family when you're visiting the zoo? Well, we will speak to one of the people charged with that responsibility at the Miami Zoo. We will do that in just a moment.