Tiger experts to review zoo walls

A team of tiger experts is examining the big cat grotto at the San Francisco Zoo, where a teenager was killed in an attack Christmas Day.

Zoo spokeswoman Lora LaMarca said the three-person team sent by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which accredits facilities nationwide, arrived Saturday. The review was expected to be completed this week, but the findings would not immediately be released.

At a hearing Monday, officials said grotto renovations, including raising the wall around the tiger exhibit, would be done by early February.

The new exhibit is set to include barriers at least 19 feet high -- nearly 7 feet higher than the wall at the time of the attack. After the mauling, zoo officials acknowledged the wall was 4 feet shorter than the association recommended.