The San Jose brothers who survived a tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas night hired Mark Geragos to represent them in an anticipated lawsuit against the zoo, NBC11 reported.

Geragos is known for representing high-profile clients such as Michael Jackson, Winona Ryder and Scott Peterson.

VIDEO: Zoo Lawyer Claims Zoo Disregarded Safety

Also Wednesday, a report alleges the three victims had items that could lead some to believe they were taunting the tiger. The New York Post reports all three had slingshots and that an empty vodka bottle was found in the car they drove to the zoo Christmas Day.

"All I know is something provoked that tiger to leap out of her exhibit and the police are investigating, so it would only be speculation on my part at this point," zoo director Manuel Mollinedo said.

Although he has not commented on the slingshot claim, Geragos is publicly claiming the zoo's "utter disregard for safety."

His clients, Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal, were released from San Francisco General Hospital Saturday and are recovering from injuries suffered in the attack that killed their friend, Carlos Sousa Jr.

Geragos told The Associated Press that Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, tried to get help for their friend, 17-year-old Sousa, after unsuccessful attempts at stopping a 350-pound Siberian tiger that had attacked Sousa.

According to Geragos, the tiger initially attacked Sousa and Paul Dhaliwal at about 4:30 p.m. after escaping from its cage.

While Sousa was seriously hurt, Paul Dhaliwal escaped, and he and his brother ran 300 yards to a zoo cafe where they had eaten earlier.

Geragos said the brothers were "denied entry" to the cafe because the zoo was closing. At that point the brothers lost sight of the tiger.

The brothers then spotted a female security guard who appeared "diffident" when told of the escaped tiger, Geragos said.

"That security guard there was disinterested in doing anything," Geragos said. "It was just absurd."

"Who knows what would have happened if the guard had acted earlier?" Geragos said. "But Carlos would have stood a better chance of not dying. And maybe the police would not have shot the tiger as well."

While the two were trying to get help, Geragos said, the tiger appeared at the cafe and began mauling Kulbir Dhaliwal before police officers arrived and shot and killed it.

Zoo spokesman Sam Singer called Geragos' claims "unreliable."

"It's impossible to comment on his claims because the police department hasn't concluded its investigation yet," Singer said.

According to police dispatch logs from the day of the attack, someone inside the cafe called 911 at 5:07 p.m. It is still unclear when the brothers tried to notify people in the cafe about the attack.

The dispatch logs also show that zoo employees initially questioned whether early reports of the attack were coming from a mentally unstable person.

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.

For several minutes, the medics refused to enter the zoo until it had been secured. Meanwhile, zoo keepers were trying to round up what they initially believed to be multiple tigers on the loose and hit them with tranquilizers.

"Zoo personnel have the tiger in sight and are dealing with it," reads a 5:17 p.m. note on the transcript.

The transcript does not indicate when police or emergency responders entered, but by 5:20 p.m. medics had located one victim with a large puncture hole to his neck. The tiger was still loose.

As medics attended to the victim, an officer spotted the tiger sitting down before it fled and began attacking another victim, according to the logs.

At 5:27 p.m., less than 20 minutes after the initial reports were made, the officers began firing, killing the 350-pound Siberian tiger.

With the criminal investigation into the fatal mauling of a 17-year-old boy on Christmas nearly complete, zoo officials said they are set to reopen.

The zoo has already planned to big changes to the cat exhibit, including a large glass wall. Officials said the exhibit -- surrounded by a tall fence -- would be closed until the modifications are complete. The zoo also said they planned on refurbishing the public address system to alert visitors in case of an emergency.

Wednesday marked the first time since the Christmas day incident that non-police and non-zoo workers were admitted inside the gates. The press conference was held on the path leading up to the Terrace Café, where the victims would up.

Mollinedo unveiled plans Wednesday to change the exhibit so the public can look in without the animals looking out.

"The new exhibit is going to have an extension wall, with glass portals periodically, placed so that people can look into the enclosure. We are increasing the heights of the wall to 19 feet," the director said.

Mollinedo said they will be posting signs explaining to the public proper behavior around the animals.

"The zoo is a museum with a living collection, and as such they should be respectful of the animals we have here at the San Francisco zoo," Mollinedo said.

Previous zoo and aquarium disasters suggest that curiosity might actually draw people in.

A spokeswoman said attendance at the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans wasn't hurt in the weeks after a walkway collapsed and 10 people fell into a 400,000-gallon shark tank in 2002.

No one was seriously hurt in the collapse, but she said people have "a bit of morbid curiosity" when it comes to seeing where an accident took place.

San Francisco Zoo officials haven't said when the big cat enclosure will reopen.