Jeff Corwin: "Zoos are not your babysitter."

[Ex Lurker]

http://www.myfoxboston.com/news/animal-expert-jeff-corwin-zoos-arent-your-baby-sitter/312006114

Corwin says the lesson is for parents to treat zoos with the respect they deserve.

“Zoos aren’t your babysitter,” he said. “Take a break from the cell phone, the selfie stick and the texting. Connect with your children. Be responsible for your children. I don’t think this happened in seconds or minutes. I think this took time for this kid, this little boy to find himself in that situation. Ultimately it’s the gorilla that’s paid this price.”

[avebury]

1. Totally agree! K&R nt

[In_The_Wind]

2. .

For the magnificent Silverback Harambe ...

[BuelahWitch]

3. Thank you, Mr. Corwin

Another for Harambe

[RandySF]

4. As a resident of a major tourist attraction

I'm ready to start shoving selfie-sticks in places where the sun doesn't shine.

[840high]

24. I'll be glad to help you.

[stone space]

5. Zoos could also make gorilla cages child-proof. (nt)

[linuxman]

8. It was good enough for 38 years and 44m+ visitors.

I don't think it was designed with giving a child unlimited time to make their way in due to a criminally negligent parent in mind.

Oh well. The gorilla had to pay the price, though millions of others seem to have made it through unscathed.

[wallyworld2]

25. So the lesson is

the cages have been secure enough in the past so don't up date them?

I've been watching a series of why planes crash.

The first thing the NTBS did was to investigate a plane crash and when they discovered the reason for the crash.

They issue a statement saying, we have discovered the flaw that caused the crash and have issued a statement to all airlines that this flaw has only caused one plane to crash in 38 years so you don't have to worry about it.

[Travis_0004]

33. I'm sure it will be improved upon

But I don't blame the zoo for not doing anything about it before today.

[linuxman]

37. Do you understand the diffrence

in an incident being caused on its own by an inherent flaw which occurs independent of meddling (faulty wire coatings causing a short, improper metals cracking under stress), and someone deliberately circumventing a safety fearure, thereby creating an incident?

If a gun has a safety, but the user goes out of their way to not use it and causes their own injury, there isn't a flaw in the gun. Everything on earth is designed with a reasonable expectation of human competence and self preservation in mind. The gorilla enclosure was designed with the reasonable belief that a mother wouldn't let her kid run off unattended in a park full of deadly animals. Same shit.

We wouldn't ground a fleet of planes because someone allowed their kid to run over and pop the escape hatch over the atlantic either.

[stone space]

44. And if that "user" is a child who managed to find the loaded gun?

If a gun has a safety, but the user goes out of their way to not use it and causes their own injury, there isn't a flaw in the gun.

And the safety turns out not to be child-proof?

Then it's not so safe, is it?

Shall we blame the mother for not having her kid on a leash?

Or shall we require safeties on guns to be child-proof?

[linuxman]

45. It would be the parents' fault in the case of the gun as well, as they didn't take basic precautions

Just like the gorilla incident.

You wouldn't yell at the Crayola company when Timmy stabs his eye out with safety scissors while mom was in lala land, crying "but they were supposed to be safe!".

She saw a barrier, assumed nothing bad in the world could happen, and left the parenting to the zoo.

No need for a leash. Just basic situational awareness and parenting.

It worked fine for 40 previous years of parents and kids.

[stone space]

60. Child finds a loaded gun in a public restroom.

Yeah, it's the parents' fault.

Kid should have been on a leash!

[linuxman]

66. Who said that?

Again, since you can't seem to follow, that's an adult's fault as well.

I don't think anyone here mentioned it being a child's fault, but bravo for fabricating an argument nobody made.

[RoccoR5955]

116. Kids should always be on a leash

Unless the parent is actually watching them with all three eyes! (My mother had an eye in the back of her head. She told me that all mothers do.)

[Aerows]

84. I don't recommend that parents leave knives out on the counter

or to not be aware of a young child if they have a pool in the backyard.

Is it tragic when an accident occurs? Hell yes it is. Is every accident preventable? Unfortunately, no, many are not.

I think the gun is probably not the best analogy. This was more of a case of a parent that failed to keep tabs on their child in a public place.

Everybody makes mistakes, though, and none of us are perfect. This isn't like the parents that lock their kids in the car and go shopping for several hours level of negligence.

Did the child get away or get lost in the crowd? Hell, I got lost in Disney World coming out of "It's a Small World" when I was 6. It took about 5 minutes for them to find me - I probably just got distracted by something.

[classykaren]

90. I agree with you.

[jberryhill]

87. Children get separated from parents all of the time

I do not know of an airport, shopping mall, amusement park, etc. which does not have a place to reunite parents and children who have been separated.

Anyone who designs a facility for the public on the assumption that children and parents will uniformly stay together has not done much living in the actual world.

[LynneSin]

98. Yes the fence could be better but so could the parents of that child

At what point to we hold the parents accountable for neglect. Small children, when parents are not paying attention, want to explore the world around them. They do not have any clue that the critters they see in zoos are dangerous. If anything they probably see cartoon versions of those animals on TV and think 'I want to play with them'.

I am glad the child is safe but the Orangutan died because of neglectful parents who were so focused on themselves that they didn't see their child managed to break into the pen. And like the previous poster said - 38 years and 44M+ visitors safely visited that cage but then again they probably also paid attention to their small children too.

[FlaGranny]

105. My son is grown now, but

when he was a little guy he had absolutely no fear of anything. I actually wished I had a leash on him many times. I had to watch him like a hawk as he would go anywhere or do anything. At the age of 3 he climbed a 12-foot monkey bar when my attention was elsewhere for 3 seconds. He fell and broke his collar bone, all in the blink of an eye. When in any dangerous situation I had to hold him or hang onto his hand for dear life. He was not easy to hold. He was like dragging a sack of potatoes. My daughter was just the opposite and would never get herself into a dangerous situation. She would come running if her brother did. You've got to know your kid. My son was the type who could have gotten into a situation like that, but soon after he learned to walk I learned he could not be trusted to stay safe. It was a relief when he got old enough to learn how to stay safe.

[gregcrawford]

69. You don't know the first goddam thing about that parent...

... so keep your malice to yourself until the facts are revealed. One irrefutable fact HAS been revealed: The Cincinnati Zoo did NOT conform to current standards for barriers.

[linuxman]

70. I know for a fact

that one of two things happened.

A: She neglected to watch her child while at the zoo as he entered the enclosure. That's bad for multiple reasons, animals being the least of them.

B:She stood there and watched as her child crawled under/through the enclosure into danger.


Either way, I know the mother is a fool at best. So there's that.

They probably should have given custody to the gorilla.

[CC]

88. Here is an eye witness account.

Or at least someone claiming to be an eye witness.

http://www.foreverymom.com/witness-to-cincinnati-zoo-gorilla-death-it-wasnt-the-parents-fault/#.V00AT0dBn6s.facebook

[Silver_Witch]

97. The mother did not kknow where her child was!

In a zoo! Even the FB poster makes it clear the mother did not know where her child was! Negligence sorry it is negligence!

[cagefreesoylentgreen]

43. Or child cages gorilla-proof instead.

n/t

[valerief]

47. Or certain parents child-proof! nt

[stone space]

48. That's a more radical remodeling that might enhance the experience significantly.

Last edited Mon May 30, 2016, 09:17 PM - Edit history (1)

I would have no objection to viewing of the gorillas from the inside of a cage looking out, rather than from the outside of a cage looking in.

I would hope that in either case, the cage be both child-proof and gorilla-proof.

[cagefreesoylentgreen]

58. Like Jurassic World

Yeah I know it's just a movie, but with our current or near future technology we should be able to build fully enclosed bubble vehicles that run along a preprogrammed track. That way neither the humans or the animals are in physical danger from each other and animals would not need to be confined to concrete enclosures.

I don't like zoos most of the time, but sadly, I think some animal species are safer in captivity, because humans are pricks. Look up what's happening to the pangolin, for example.

[Logical]

46. I think we need to childproof these fucking parents......

Hundreds of thousands of other parents manage to keep the kids out of the fucking cage, these idiots didn't!

[stone space]

50. Wow!

I think we need to childproof these fucking parents......

I'm not sure what you are suggesting here.

Hundreds of thousands of other parents manage to keep the kids out of the fucking cage, these idiots didn't!

Hundreds of thousands of other parents won't even be visiting the zoo any more if they don't feel that it is safe for their children.

One may view that as a good thing or a bad thing, I suppose, but it is the reality.

[truebrit71]

112. Or parents could just pay attention to their offspring......

...you know, so the little fuckers don't wind up getting animals killed...

[magical thyme]

6. +1 billion

Parents need to learn that the outside world is not there to wait on them and provide babysitting and rescue services.

One mother with 4 little kids, 3 of them ambulatory and 4th a baby in her arms, does not belong at a zoo. Put the baby in a stroller and leashes on the toddlers, or bring another adult, or stay home.

[kentauros]

10. Perhaps the price of admission to the zoo should -include- harnesses and leashes.

If the parents balk at that, well, they don't get in.

[magical thyme]

13. works for me.

the kids are either under the parent's control, or not allowed in.

[Fritz Walter]

7. Rumor has it

That the mom was distracted by other children, while her brat found his way into the gorilla compound.

Whose other children drew her attention from her own spawn?

Where were their parents?

If these distractions were her own offspring, then the zoo and the city of Cincinnati should come down on her and the father like a ton of bricks.

And, since when has Fux Noise been a credible news source?

[Warren DeMontague]

17. Anybody who refers to someone's child as "brat" and "spawn"

Probably isnt coming at this story from a level of compassion that a 4 year old child in potentially life-threatening danger (and no, it wasnt the gorilla's fault) merits.

[stone space]

19. This is not the first instance of "spawn" I have run across today.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=7867458

[Warren DeMontague]

21. Some people gotta get their 15 minute hate on.

I guess.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

77. Get over it already

[passiveporcupine]

29. thank you

BTW, three-year-old child. The news got it wrong at first.

[Ex Lurker]

30. 4 year olds will do what 4 year olds do

which is get into anything and everything. My lack of compassion is for the inattentive parent who allowed this to happen and apparently doesn't give a shit.

[Warren DeMontague]

41. She ought to express compassion for the gorilla, who was not at fault, clearly.

But I don't know enough about the situation to make definitive statements as to how exactly this went down, much less assign blame.

[lame54]

103. But we just heard a rumor...

you now know everything you need to know

[Fritz Walter]

89. To clarify

I'm sorry if my choice of words upsets you. They were written in anger and disgust, not hatred.

[lame54]

102. A Rumor?...

Really?

[Texasgal]

119. Whoa..

You are just a little ray of sunshine.

[Silver_Witch]

9. So sorry Harambe...so terribly terribly sorry.

And how will Harambe's friends and fellows feel?

[ToxMarz]

11. "I don’t think this happened in seconds or minutes. I think this took time"

I'd rather base my assessments and solutions on the facts, I don't really care what you "think". Zoos are public attractions and specifically marketed to children and students. As with all public spaces, they need to be as safe as they can possibly be (idiot proof actually), and incidences like this can and should be learning situations. She didn't take her children to play in the middle of the highway, it is not unreasonable for her to rely that there is a certain degree of safety in the zoos design to keep the animals and public separated. I have no doubt the zoo's design is intended to provide that degree of safety and something more than a distracted mom failed.

[sinkingfeeling]

91. A three year old should be in a stroller or hand in hand

with a parent 100% of the tme. It isn't the responsibility of the place you take your children to make it completely "child proof'. I have been in restaurants where kids have run into servers carrying trays of hot food, run into the kitchen, and stuck their fingers into the salad bar as the parents sat at the table ignoring their responsibility to watch their kid.
Just like the government can't ever keep you 100% safe from a terrorist attack or a crazy with a gun. A zoo can't stop a kid from crawling under a fence and through bushes, only parental supervision can.

[ToxMarz]

92. A public zoo should not have an enclosure around dangerous animals that a

3 year old can breach. It's not about guaranteeing 100% safety, that's a deflection. The Govt and the zoo would have done all they could to ensure the safety of the exhibit and it wasn't enough. No zoo would intentionally be designed so that it would only be safe to visit if all children were in strollers and their hands were held 100% of the time. That's not how humans behave in real life, my Mom has 7 kids and even with dad they only had 4 hands. But when they took us places, they went to places that were supposed to be designed and safe for children.

[lostnfound]

12. I didn't realize Jeff Corwin was there at the time

Walk a fricking mile in her shoes first.
I took my kid to the zoo many times with my little one. It seemed to be a fairly safe place, well designed to stop kids from being in danger. A false sense of security may have been a contributing factor.

[MisterP]

16. "Corwin lives in Marshfield, Massachusetts, with his wife Natasha and their two daughters: Maya Rose

(b. July 6, 2003) and Marina (b. September 11, 2008)."

[Rex]

14. They shouldn't have shot and killed the Gorilla.

Then again, I am completely against caged zoos - they should all be free ranging and not tiny cages or holding pins.

[bjo59]

23. Makes me want to cry seeing how relatively gentle that gorilla was being as well.

He didn't ask to be in that zoo, he didn't ask for some little kid to wander into his "prison cell," he didn't ask to be entertainment for humans. I freaking hate zoos. Wildlife refuges, yes. Zoos, absolutely not. I'm getting so sick of the narcissistic human species.

[secondwind]

26. I'm with you.. hate zoos and circuses.. Always have

[Mr.Bill]

34. Add Rodeos to that list.

And throw in Horse and dog racing, too. I had an uncle who owned a few race horses. No animal was meant to live that life.

[rhett o rick]

117. And I throw in the Sea Worlds.

[Rex]

28. I can only imagine the nightmare last seconds of the gorillas life.

Why? What happened? What did I do and the pain. I hate zoos, people should be forced to travel to open range areas and see the animal in a REAL habitat not some made up prison to make a few bucks at the gorillas expense.

They should be forced to endure the REAL environment and then MAYBE they will realize zoos are just prisons and sideshows to exploit the animal. All for a buck, I will never believe it is to 'bring wildlife closer to humans so they can see what it is like.'

What it is like must be hell, like it was for the elephant in Japan that was imprisoned for 60 years without a friend in the world. I am with you on this one...I am getting sick of the narcissistic human species, Donald Trump being the prefect example.

[braddy]

32. Did you see this video? It wasn't so gentle.

[stone space]

59. Probably not too dangerous for a baby gorilla.

Unfortunately, the child wasn't a baby gorilla.

[braddy]

67. I baby sat a Chimpanzee once in my home when I was in the Army, and it turned out to be

something that I will never do again.

Nothing happened, but that was only luck, his power and strength were far beyond the ability of my 200 muscular pounds to handle, and when I got a measure of what was in the house with me after interacting with it a little physically, I was very eager for the hours to pass until his owner picked him up.

The Chimpanzee's grip and arm strength were beyond belief.

When I watched that little 3 year boy, I kept waiting for an arm or leg to come off purely from accident or rough play.

[stone space]

72. We have a miniature pinscher we can't handle. (nt)

[Silver_Witch]

99. He was gentle the child left the hospital with a scratch!

Harembe did not hurt that child. He however paid with his life while humans paniclked about thee "beast".

No broken bones or other injuries for the child.

[braddy]

101. The experts killed the animal, and say that they would do it again, it was a deadly situation.

[Divernan]

111. He was protective of child; screaming crowd panicked him into running w/child

apparently, according to some onlookers, still trying to protect the child from the idiot looky-loos.

[Warren DeMontague]

15. It's easy to assume and pass judgment.

But we dont really know what happened, do we?

[Ex Lurker]

18. We know a child wasn't properly supervised

Whether the zoo was also negligent is a matter to be determined, but 4 year olds with an adult paying attention and within arm's reach don't get up to such as this. I am fine with passing judgement in this instance. particularly when the parent's own statements show a lack of self awareness and responsibility.

[Warren DeMontague]

20. What statement is that?

Something obviously happened here that shouldn't have, but I think the reflexive need to assign blame is wrong. This was a no-win tragedy that could actually have ended worse, beyond that I think it is not a good idea to make assumptions.

[Ex Lurker]

22. "accidents happen."

per her facebook post.

[Warren DeMontague]

40. They do.

And anyone who says they don't understand how a 4 year old could get away from a parent has never been a parent of a 4 year old.

Blaming and shaming this woman- based upon speculation- isn't going to accomplish anything. Certainly won't bring the gorilla back.

[Bettie]

108. So true

kids that age are FAST and small. All it takes is a step and they can be obscured by other, taller humans and they are off looking at whatever caught their interest.

Even the most attentive parent isn't focused on only their child 100% of the time. Actually, parents today are far more attentive than when I was a child.

[jberryhill]

54. No child was ever separated from parents at a public place

That sort of thing never happens at a zoo.

[stone space]

62. Surely, such an unlikely event couldn't possibly be anticipated.

No child was ever separated from parents at a public place

That sort of thing never happens at a zoo.

And certainly, even with 2020 hindsight, we still can't anticipate it looking into the future, even after all this.

No reason to fix it.

It'll be the parents' fault next time as well, so why even bother to fix it?

[progressoid]

27. So I guess a tranquilizer wasn't an option?

[Hoyt]

31. While I hate what happened, I agree with experts that tranquilizer don't work immediately and

might have enraged the gorilla. Maybe it's just time to get rid of zoos altogether. I think IMAX documentaries of animals in the wild is probably a better way to show these magnificent creatures.

[Travis_0004]

36. I'm not so sure that a pissed off gorilla with a dart in his ass would improve the situation

They don't take effect immediately, it takes time to work.

[linuxman]

38. This was not a movie

Tranquilizers have to be drawn, measured, then allowed time to set in. Usually a few minutes at least.

There isn't a tranq gun loaded with all purpose, fast acting drugs in a glass case marked "Break in case of poor parenting".

Additionally, shooting a metal dart into a large Silverback probably won't help to soothe it, at least until the drugs eventually kick in.

[jeff47]

42. The level of drugs needed to immediately subdue an angry gorilla would kill that gorilla.

Tranquilizers take time to subdue an animal. During that time, the animal is really pissed off that it just got shot with a big dart.

When the pissed off animal is a gorilla holding a child, it would be a very bad time to be that child.

[Warren DeMontague]

52. The zoo guy addressed that.

Short answer, no.

[progressoid]

56. Thnx, I haven't seen news for a couple days.

Still catching up.

[Warren DeMontague]

63. I only watched that clip. I really never turn on tv news, I probably wouldn't be aware of the story

if it wasn't for DU, honestly.

But what the guy said was, there's no tranquilizer that would act fast and reliably enough to ensure the gorilla didn't become violently unpredictable for a time before passing out. I get the feeling that those tranquilizer darts that put secret agents out the second they hit the neck only exist on tv shows.

[dilby]

35. Better yet don't take your kids to see animals imprisoned.

Want to impress me, turn every zoo into a petting zoo where you can run with the lions. Till then keeping animals in cages for amusement needs to end.

[Quixote1818]

39. Not a fan of zoos either. Wildlife parks with large areas for the animals to roam are better. nt

[Feeling the Bern]

76. zoos have a purpose for education and attempting to prolong endangered species survival

other than that, I completely agree.

Most people that go to zoos are the dumbest things in the world.

I worked at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall for 2.5 years. You can't believe the dumbass questions I got from patrons that came.

Here I am working there, working on my dissertation and as a historian there. . .one person asked me if they could jump into the pit of 10,000 corpses to see if the skulls there were really skulls and not fake.

To quote Carlin: "people are fucking dumb."

[valerief]

49. Why do we even have zoos with dangerous animals when we have soooooo much wonderful video to

see them in their natural habitats?

[Act_of_Reparation]

94. Because a lot of these animals are endangered in their natural habitats.

Zoos not only provide the animals with a real shot at survival, they also raise public awareness of conservation. Overall, I'd argue zoos are a good thing, if done properly.

[valerief]

109. I'm not convinced I have to be within 20 feet of a tiger. nt

[Act_of_Reparation]

114. Then don't be.

I'm not convinced the tiger has to be within 20 feet of a poacher.

[valerief]

115. Agreed! nt

[Judi Lynn]

51. Thank you for posting this.Zoos most definitely are not meant as babysitters or amusement parks. n/t

[malaise]

53. The major distraction today is the smart phone

Back in the day it was the parents who were smart. Now they're addicted to the phone.

[Warren DeMontague]

55. And yet people here also lament overprotective "helicopter parents" and pine for the lawn dart days.

[malaise]

57. Way more complex

Our parents let us roam around the neighborhood where everyone knew everyone and looked out for others' kids without being all over them. Today the parents don't let them go anywhere and none of them are accustomed to the outdoors. The parents want to interact with their phone and the kids wander off. It's very different.

I think helicopter parents with over-involved parenting is real. My mother didn't even know what I went to study -now parents are filling out application forms for college.

[Warren DeMontague]

64. I think a lot of the hyperbole about "parents and kids today" is overblown, personally.

Kids still ride bikes around neighborhoods, hike in the woods, get skinned knees, etc.

The reason kids didn't fall into Gorilla enclosures back in the 1970s is because the gorillas were in cages instead of open air habitats.

[malaise]

68. Well you have a point re the Gorilla enclosure

They had it worse

[Act_of_Reparation]

95. Oh, here we go.

[truth2power]

61. I read in one account where a bystander supposedly said

that the boy kept saying he was going into the water and the mother said, "no you're not" and the boy said, "yes I am" and mom said, "no you're not", etc.

IF this account is true, and notice, I said, "if", - I wasn't there - then that's the crux of the matter. Why would any parent be arguing with their child over the child taking some action that could be life-threatening? There's hardly a week goes by that I don't encounter, in the grocery or somewhere, a child screaming his lungs out and bullying his/her parent because of wanting something the parent isn't prepared to provide.

I've come to the conclusion that Americans, these days, worship their children instead of parenting them. In addition, when my children were young, MANY years ago, I had a harness on the youngest when I was in large crowds. Nowadays, they even have cute little backpack harnesses that look like a teddy bear.

Of course there's always some "concern busybody" who'll say the little darlings shouldn't be treated like animals, or some other nonsense. Better they fall into a hole and tragedy ensues, I guess.

I blame the mother. Sue me.

[MisterP]

65. interestingly they picked up on this with the burbs' boom in the 40s: they called it "filiarchy"

[FlaGranny]

106. Years ago I had

first hand experience with a parent child/encounter that made me shake my head in disbelief. A mother was actually arguing with a 3 or 4 year old girl. In effect, she was teaching the child how to argue with her. I'm certain that mother had a "wonderful" time trying to raise that child and she probably never had a clue that she herself taught that child how to be a "brat."

[malokvale77]

71. Two things...

1) We have no business caging these animals for profit or pleasure.

2) It's a shame that this magnificent animal had to die because of distracted parents.

I'm sad that so many on this thread think we can child-proof the world.

[Feeling the Bern]

73. Parents need to control their little spawns of Hell and their Demon spawns better

I weep for the future of the country with this generation of sociopaths.

[Warren DeMontague]

74. Are you for fucking real? That kid is THREE.

[Feeling the Bern]

75. So is my niece, who beats up children in McDonalds to the point that McDonalds told my mother not to

bring her back.

So was the kid on the Nanjing subway who was kicking her grandmother so hard he caused bruises on her legs because she wouldn't get up to let him sit.

Sociopathy starts young, fella.

[Warren DeMontague]

82. So does performance art, Chief.

[Feeling the Bern]

83. You're comparing this brat to Andy Kaufman. And we're done here.

[Warren DeMontague]

85. No, not the kid.

Keep trying.

[stone space]

80. Oh, Good Lord! Another one???

little spawns of Hell and their Demon spawns

WTF is wrong with people?

[Feeling the Bern]

81. When you are around screaming kids as much as I am, you get sick of their parents not doing

their jobs.

Spawn of Hell - screaming, whining kids
Demon Spawn - sociopathic children

To quote Carlin: Not all children are smart and clever. Kids are like everyone else. A few winners, a whole lot of losers.

Fast forward to 8:40 and this is my attitude towards most kids.

[SalviaBlue]

107. Maybe its the same person.

[Act_of_Reparation]

96. Is it unreasonable...

...to expect that a zoo should be able to keep toddlers out of the fucking animal pens? We could go back and forth for hours about how things should be, but as they are, kids are brats and their parents don't give a flying fuck. This is something zoos should consider when constructing their enclosures, if not for the children's sake, then for the animals'.

[dflprincess]

78. Several years ago there was an incident at the Minnesota Zoo where a 9 year old stuck her

hand in the meerkat enclosure and was bitten - the kid had to pass under barriers to get that close to the cage so it was another story of negligent parents.

The parents refused to get the kid rabies shots (which aren't that bad, I have a friend who had to have them - not anything like they used to be. You get one by the bite and the rest in the butt). Even though the meerkats had been vaccinated the zoo wound up having to kill all the meerkats so they could be tested immediately for rabies - turned out none of the animals had them.

I even found an old DU thread about it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x5474841

[Blasphemer]

79. Ugh... that disturbs me even more than the gorilla incident

A few potentially unpleasant rabies shots that kid would forget about pretty quickly vs. killing an entire family of meerkats? Those people engaged in animalslaughter.

[gollygee]

104. I agree with that

I don't see blame in the Cincinnati incident. The mom should have watched her kid happen, but it's hard to do. The kid shouldn't have been able to get in, but no one had before. I think it was just a horrible incident.

But I have kids and if one of my kids put their hand in to touch an animal, they'd have to deal with the shots. No question.

[roamer65]

86. A three year old had no reason for being in that compound.

Failure on the zoo to establish age limits and failure of the parent(s) to identify the compound as age inappropriate and leave.

[IronLionZion]

93. People are very quick to cast judgement down upon someone

without knowing or caring about what happened. That could mean the mom or the gorilla.

The blame game is very easy. The zoo's director is refusing to blame the Mom since she had other kids there. It's not like she was lounging about eating bonbons. A freeper could easily blame DU and liberal cultural values for this and it would be just as nonsensical.

The zoo also stands by their decision to kill instead of tranquilize. They said they would do it again, no question.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/30/us/gorilla-shot-harambe/

Maynard has said that tranquilizers may not have taken effect in time to save the boy while the dart might have agitated the animal, worsening the situation. Animal expert Jeff Corwin agreed that tranquilizers may have taken too long.
"... In some situations, depending on what the medication is, it can take upward to 10 to 15 minutes," Corwin said. "It may take multiple shots."
Many pointed out that a human life was at stake -- especially that of a child -- and that's more important than that of a gorilla.

[Hiraeth]

100. Whatever happened to tranquilizer darts?

Very sad story with a very unhappy ending.

[sunnystarr]

110. Why was there a space under the barrier??

Up until today I thought this little 3 year old climbed over the barrier because the lame-stream media reported that. He didn't. He slipped under the barrier which takes a second to do.

The mom took her eyes off him for a second or two, which ALL mothers do with regularity. She didn't see him because the shrubbery hid him from view. Then he appeared in the moat and people started screaming when they saw the gorilla take him out of the moat. All the screaming agitated the animal who ran off with child in tow.

The rest is history.

The mom is not to blame but the zoo is. It's their responsibility to ensure that a child can't climb over or slip under any barrier that keeps them from contact with the animal on the other side.

I cry every time I even think about Harambe.

[Ex Lurker]

122. "the mom is not to blame." I disagree.

She does share a part of the blame.

[lark]

113. My kids were very active, so I was always on high alert when I took them to the zoo.

I can't tell you how many times I pulled my oldest son off a fence he was starting to climb to get to whatever animal had caught his fancy.

[roamer65]

120. I would agree with you.

I think Harambe thought he was protecting the child.

To him, our screaming probably sounds chimpanzee-like.

[roamer65]

121. Here is why the zoo overreacted.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jambo

Past history in two cases shows a silverback and a female gorilla protected a young child when they fell into a gorilla enclosure.

In addition to Jambo in 1986, Binti Jua in 1996.