Cincinnati Zoo kills gorilla after child gets into his cage, May 28, 2016

[Montjoy]

The new barrier doesn't look much more secure than the old one. And it's not humans I am concerned about. Zoo already showed they will kill an animal if human gets into enclosure.

I could do a better job of shoring up the enclosure just using junk from the Monjoy estate. I have to wonder, did they just use the zoo shop, and perhaps the zoo store? Yeesh.

When I started writing, I wanted to say this was a side note, but I think that this is actually kind of a main note:

Zoos profit from events like this. This may seem like an odd statement, but bare with me -- Zoos benefit, sadly enough from events like this. Sure, there will be plenty of people who are scared off of zoos because of this event. But on the other hand, events like this give zoos a heck of a lot of credibility as authentic experiences. An unfair enclosure says to people that they may be at some potential risk by visiting.

Every time that people die climbing Everest, or any other tall peak, the number of people who want to climb it (or them) rises. Circuses aren't just about the clowns (which scare many people, incidentally). The circus has always been about the people who 'defy death' -- do things that might end in their demise, things done 'without a net'. And so I would argue (as many have before) that part of the appeal of the spectacle is about proximity to the risk of death.

If this weren't the case, why would the most popular exhibits so often be predators or physically imposing animals (excepting, of course, primates like monkeys that people find amusing)?

 

[KaaBoom]

BBM. This is the only time this has happened at this zoo.

This is the only time this specific incident has happen. But the zoo’s polar bears escaped just a month before this incident, so incidents at this zoo seem fairly regular and that's just the ones we hear about. Who knows how many more incidents go unreported.

 

[JeannaT]

This is the only time this specific incident has happen. But the zoo’s polar bears escaped just a month before this incident, so incidents at this zoo seem fairly regular and that's just the ones we hear about. Who knows how many more incidents go unreported.

I don't think the polar bears escaped. An interior door was left open by an employee, human error, and the polar bears were still in that enclosure because of the double locking nature of the enclosure.

 

[JeannaT]

I could do a better job of shoring up the enclosure just using junk from the Monjoy estate. I have to wonder, did they just use the zoo shop, and perhaps the zoo store? Yeesh.

When I started writing, I wanted to say this was a side note, but I think that this is actually kind of a main note:

Zoos profit from events like this. This may seem like an odd statement, but bare with me -- Zoos benefit, sadly enough from events like this. Sure, there will be plenty of people who are scared off of zoos because of this event. But on the other hand, events like this give zoos a heck of a lot of credibility as authentic experiences. An unfair enclosure says to people that they may be at some potential risk by visiting.

Every time that people die climbing Everest, or any other tall peak, the number of people who want to climb it (or them) rises. Circuses aren't just about the clowns (which scare many people, incidentally). The circus has always been about the people who 'defy death' -- do things that might end in their demise, things done 'without a net'. And so I would argue (as many have before) that part of the appeal of the spectacle is about proximity to the risk of death.

If this weren't the case, why would the most popular exhibits so often be predators or physically imposing animals (excepting, of course, primates like monkeys that people find amusing)?

As I understand it, zoos aren't usually profitable ventures, and they don't make nearly the money they cost. They are considered to be a public "park" or recreation area, paid for by the city. They do recoup some of their cost through ticket sales and concessions, and they usually have wealthy benefactors, but the thought that zoos are profitable and getting more through the door is their main objective - is not correct, I don't think.

They do need to have enough customers to justify the expense of the zoo.

 

[sonjay]

This is the only time this specific incident has happen. But the zoo’s polar bears escaped just a month before this incident, so incidents at this zoo seem fairly regular and that's just the ones we hear about. Who knows how many more incidents go unreported.

The polar bears escaped into a hallway. No one was injured and no animals were harmed.

If people got killed by zoo animals, or zoo animals were killed because people got into their enclosures, I'm quite sure we'd hear about it. Let's not speculate this into an epidemic. This has happened once in 38 years.

 

[KaaBoom]

oh please....you can't "child proof" the entire world,:

Oh please, I could design a barrier (a nice attractive looking one), that would make it impossible for a child of any age to get into the enclosure. Even if children were left unattended there all day and promised of a reward if they managed to get into it. It’s not hard, and anyway we have spent a lot of time, child proof the world in all kinds of ways. But the best we can manage is a cheap net to keep kids from falling into a pit filled with dangerous animals. :facepalm:

 

[KaaBoom]

This youtube video is called "9 Zoo Fails":

I was surprised to see there had been a prior "suicide by lion" attempt in India! Most of these incidents seemed to people who voluntarily entered the enclosure. To take a better picture, to retrieve a child's dropped toy, to "swim with the animals". Sheesh!

There have been multiple cases of suicide by lion all over the world. The last one was just a couple of weeks ago and resulted in the shooting deaths of two lions in Chile.

 

[AlwaysShocked]

San Francisco Zoo - The walls were not high enough. Did not meet specifications. A tiger jumped up and out - killing one teenager and mauling two others. Zoo officials immediately speculated that the boys "had to have been taunting the animal". Blaming the victim seems to be the first thing out of their mouths.

Meanwhile, a woman who had previously taken the time to write a letter to the zoo director stating that she saw this same tiger jumping up and almost getting out apparently came forward.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Zoo_tiger_attacks

When your moat wall is supposed to be a minimum of 16.5 ft. high and you are claiming it is 18 ft. high, but after a tiger jumps out it turns out it is only 12.5 ft. high - something isn't right.


This incident and the publicity it has generated seems to be a fine time for a spotlight to be place on the recommendations for zoos and whether or not they are actually meeting those recommendations. The public has a right to expect that proper safety precautions have been followed.

Personally, I have never been a zoo fan. They stink.

 

[JeannaT]

Yet, when it happens at the zoo, everybody blames the parent. If a child gets away from a parent and runs into the street and gets hit by a truck, thats just a terrible accident, but if a child get's away from a parent and falls in the gorilla pit at the zoo, thats gross negligence on the part of the parent. We got the message, zoos are terrible dangerous places, and any responsible person would know not to take a child there. We should just have the police arrest every single person at the zoo gate, who tries to take a child into the zoo, for child endangerment.

I know you're being sarcastic, and you don't mean your post, but the difference here is the gorilla was killed.

I'm just still really, really angry. If the child had somehow been scooped out of there with minimal injuries and the gorillas lived through this, I think everyone would say whew that was close, no harm no foul!

But that's not how it played out, and now I (and a lot of other people) are mad that the mother didn't take better care of her child who is very difficult to supervise. I'm just mad and I have no real positive place to put that anger.

 

[DexterMorgan]

Why blame anyone?

It was obviously a accident that needed extra force at hand to save the child. Geez.

The gorilla paid the price with his innocent life. So how many other innocents should pay for a freeking accident.

This isnt 9/11 where we need to go to the ultimate extremes of protecting the public.

This was simply a accident that has never happened to that gorilla enclosure before. Jmo

 

[KaaBoom]

I don't think the polar bears escaped. An interior door was left open by an employee, human error, and the polar bears were still in that enclosure because of the double locking nature of the enclosure.

The zoo called it a breach of security, and said they got out of their enclose, and the zoo was put on lock down.

Double trouble: 2 polar bears breach Cincinnati Zoo's security

 

[AlwaysShocked]

Here in Pittsburgh the zoo officials immediately blamed the dead child's mother after he fell into the dog exhibit and was mauled to death:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/pittsburgh-zoo-blames-mother-mauling-death-toddler/story?id=20235482

Later, the zoo settled with the parents:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/pittsbur...-toddlers-mauling-death-155021992.html?ref=gs


This is a good article published at the time entitled "No Zoo is 100% Safe":
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...tsburgh-shows-no-zoo-is-100-percent-safe?lite

 

[DexterMorgan]

San Francisco Zoo - The walls were not high enough. Did not meet specifications. A tiger jumped up and out - killing one teenager and mauling two others. Zoo officials immediately speculated that the boys "had to have been taunting the animal". Blaming the victim seems to be the first thing out of their mouths.

Meanwhile, a woman who had previously taken the time to write a letter to the zoo director stating that she saw this same tiger jumping up and almost getting out apparently came forward.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Zoo_tiger_attacks

When your moat wall is supposed to be a minimum of 16.5 ft. high and you are claiming it is 18 ft. high, but after a tiger jumps out it turns out it is only 12.5 ft. high - something isn't right.


This incident and the publicity it has generated seems to be a fine time for a spotlight to be place on the recommendations for zoos and whether or not they are actually meeting those recommendations. The public has a right to expect that proper safety precautions have been followed.

Personally, I have never been a zoo fan. They stink.

The San Francisco zoo has the best lion feeding show in California. Me and the family love being the first there to stand in front the cages which is right there.

I know. Off topic. But since we can't afford a trip to Africa while paying locals to show us the lions eating in the wild.

Then I guess we are simply content with our little 40 minutes at the SF feeding. Lol.

Btw. Its not all feeding. Most cats are nibbling on toys that I guess taste like food. Or they bring in a dead bunny for a 500lb cat to eat for the final attraction.

Nothing major. But standing 5 ft away does enhance the enclosed beast eating a snack, while making us feel like we got our moneys worth for only the price of admission into the zoo. Jmo.

 

[AlwaysShocked]

I know you're being sarcastic, and you don't mean your post, but the difference here is the gorilla was killed.

I'm just still really, really angry. If the child had somehow been scooped out of there with minimal injuries and the gorillas lived through this, I think everyone would say whew that was close, no harm no foul!

But that's not how it played out, and now I (and a lot of other people) are mad that the mother didn't take better care of her child who is very difficult to supervise. I'm just mad and I have no real positive place to put that anger.[/QUOTE]

I understand what you mean and you have expressed it well. If you feel really, really strongly you might seek out a positive avenue to pour your feelings into. Volunteer work at a local zoo? Donating to a "Save the Animals" type of fund? Many people have been motivated to do positive things in life based on being very angry about a certain situation in life. Think about it a bit - I'd bet you can come up with something.

 

[JeannaT]

I know you're being sarcastic, and you don't mean your post, but the difference here is the gorilla was killed.

I'm just still really, really angry. If the child had somehow been scooped out of there with minimal injuries and the gorillas lived through this, I think everyone would say whew that was close, no harm no foul!

But that's not how it played out, and now I (and a lot of other people) are mad that the mother didn't take better care of her child who is very difficult to supervise. I'm just mad and I have no real positive place to put that anger.[/QUOTE]

I understand what you mean and you have expressed it well. If you feel really, really strongly you might seek out a positive avenue to pour your feelings into. Volunteer work at a local zoo? Donating to a "Save the Animals" type of fund? Many people have been motivated to do positive things in life based on being very angry about a certain situation in life. Think about it a bit - I'd bet you can come up with something.

Thanks, and I already am volunteering both with neglectful parents and animals. So maybe I will just leave it at that, and also feel more justified than I already do when I step in to help a child in a dangerous situation where the parent is looking the other way.

Thank you, honestly.

 

[KaaBoom]

I know you're being sarcastic, and you don't mean your post, but the difference here is the gorilla was killed.

I'm just still really, really angry. If the child had somehow been scooped out of there with minimal injuries and the gorillas lived through this, I think everyone would say whew that was close, no harm no foul!

But that's not how it played out, and now I (and a lot of other people) are mad that the mother didn't take better care of her child who is very difficult to supervise. I'm just mad and I have no real positive place to put that anger.

You should direct your anger where it belongs, at the zoo. It’s their responsibility under federal law to make sure that zoo animals and zoo visitors don’t come in contact with each other. Yes, it's left totally up to the zoo's discretion how to do that, and a cheap $200 net meets the federal requirements, but ask yourself, if they are really living up too their obligation to keep animals and humans safe from each other with a cheap net and some bushes.

 

[JeannaT]

You should direct your anger where it belongs, at the zoo. It’s their responsibility under federal law to make sure that zoo animals and zoo visitors don’t come in contact with each other. Yes, it's left totally up to the zoo's discretion how to do that, and a cheap $200 net meets the federal requirements, but ask yourself, if they are really living up too their obligation to keep animals and humans safe from each other with a cheap net and some bushes.

My anger doesn't belong at the zoo. My anger belongs with the parent of this child in need of extra supervision and the parent did not provide it.

And in thinking through this deeply, I'm realizing my anger is stemming from frustration with a couple friends who did not supervise their children and those kids caused real damage. Although anyone who was acquainted with them knew they were capable of damage, and felt the kids should be supervised more closely than the parents were willing to do.

 

[bluesneakers]

I heard a good program on public radio and I cannot find the reference.

The commentator talked about why are we not upset about chickens that are raised in an area where their beaks are clipped and their feet do not touch the ground. Pigs, which are smarter than dogs, live in a space in their own waste. They get lesions on their lungs from the ammonia. They cannot turn around in their space.

Interesting.

Cognitive dissonance.

Was it Gene Bauer doing the talking?

 

[DexterMorgan]

You should direct your anger where it belongs, at the zoo. It’s their responsibility under federal law to make sure that zoo animals and zoo visitors don’t come in contact with each other. Yes, it's left totally up to the zoo's discretion how to do that, and a cheap $200 net meets the federal requirements, but ask yourself, if they are really living up too their obligation to keep animals and humans safe from each other with a cheap net and some bushes.

In all honesty. If this happened at Disneyland where a kid went under a turnstyle and jumped in front of an approaching roller coaster.

Then I wouldn't blame Disneyland. Jmo.

But I do understand what you mean in regards to why you stated it. We are all just conversating. Happy Saturday to all.

 

[bluesneakers]

Why blame anyone?

It was obviously a accident that needed extra force at hand to save the child. Geez.

The gorilla paid the price with his innocent life. So how many other innocents should pay for a freeking accident.

This isnt 9/11 where we need to go to the ultimate extremes of protecting the public.

This was simply a accident that has never happened to that gorilla enclosure before. Jmo

Because we have to in order to pretend it can't happen to us. JMO