ENDANGERED SILVER BACK KILLED, WHO'S AT FAULT

[mark1]

Cliffs and ravines are naturally occurring things, not man-made constructs. Putting a bunch of potentially dangerous animals all in one place and then charging money for public viewing requires some degree of responsibility on the part of the facility. Should we just drop a black mamba in the middle of a crowd so they can all check it out, and assume that everyone knows to keep their distance? Should the crocs be kept in a normal park style pool because everyone knows not to wade into a croc pool, right? There is a difference between encountering a rattle snake on a hike in the wild, and a person putting a rattlesnake in your bed. I don't suggest we fence off every venomous snake on the planet, and if someone puts a venomous snake in my house, they are responsible for what happens.

i was specifically thinking of ravines , cliffs and gorges where access is provided by the park service ..... there is one right by my house they provide a path and stairs to the top of a cliff , a trail along the edge and a path down the other side ...... if they provide your family access to it and your 4 yr old falls off the cliff would they not be as responsible ? your 4 yr old would not have been able to get there without their stairs ? i can think of many national parks across the country who provide stuff like this , nearby parking lots , access trails maintained by the park service , and even wheel chair access to some places , places you would never get your kids without their help ............i have seen exactly how that gorilla was displayed , not hardly like throwing a mamba in a crowd ..... a fence , i'd guess 3 feet , bushes , and the bushes you couldn't walk through they are dense and hard , either you'd need to go over them or under them , then a small cement wall with a 20 foot drop on the other side .......

 

[lisa127]

There is no and never will be a perfect parent. Common sense would do a lot of parents and people in general a whole lot of good.

Yes, not denying that.

 

[lisa127]

I would have a problem with a Zoo that staked out an animal, yes. Not because there was no barrier, but because it shouldn't be staked out. There was a barrier. The barrier was good enough for anyone that was doing what they were suppose to be doing! I'm sick of parents/people now days being so lacking in common sense. Really, do they need to be told to watch their kids, the coffees hot, small items could be a choking hazard, duh. If I have a fence around my tortoises and someone walks in my yard to see them and decides to go further into the torts area and gets hurt, guess what, the fence was there for a reason and common sense should be enough. Fences and barriers have only two meanings in my book.
1- to keep my (zoo) stuff in!
2-to keep everyone out!
If your not in, then that means you stay out!
Kids of this boys age, might not be able to see or read the do not climb, etc signs. Plus, they just need to be watched at all times! Parents and humans in general needs to stop pointing fingers, cuz when you do, there's four of those figures pointing right back at ya, the person who is to blame!

Yes, people need to stop pointing fingers. Exactly my point! This was a horrible tragedy for everyone involved. Time to stop berating the parents and just feel bad about what happened.

 

[lisa127]

This is the parents fault and only their fault. You know your walking into a Zoo. You know there are a lot of possible danger areas at a Zoo and a lot of dangerous people at the Zoo, waiting for the idiot not paying attention to their child. This child wasn't of age where you drop the reins and let him/her go on their own. This was a toddler that the should of had ahold of at all times whether holding his hand, or in a stroller/wagon. If they were in an open area, like a picnic type area, then you can loosen the grip, as long as you still keep one eye always on them. Yes, I screwed up once, yes it only takes one time of your heart sinking and your brain thinking the worst to learn a lesson. Luckily for me, it was a panic of only seconds and nothing bad happened. Had something happened though, it would have been totally my fault, no matter what the situation was. This country is getting filled with sue happy, lazy parents, who has a stupid phone perminently suck to their faces!

And lucky for you, it wasn't on social media so that you could be berated by the world.

 

[lisa127]

From what I remember reading the zoo not only met the safety requirements but exceeded them for the gorilla enclosure in their last inspection. Could a zoo make everything 100% safe, mostly likely, but i am sure it would make it less enjoyable. I personally hate looking through netting or chain link fences, especially when trying to take a picture. Sure glass helps but I don't think i have ever made a trip without kids banging on the glass to get the animal's attention. Plus, in the end, the zoo has to make money in order to stay open so they have to make it enjoyable for people.

I am sure being a parent is hard and takes a lot of attention to keep track of your kids but when going into a place like a zoo, I feel that the parents just have to pay 100% attention to your kids the entire time. I remember when i was young my parents would make me keep one of my hands in one of their pockets at all times.

Toddlers just don't have any fear yet, nor do they understand the dangers that they put themselves into. I remember as a little kid if my parents looked away for 10 seconds while gardening I would be instantly 30 ft into our oak tree even after my dad cut all the low branches off trying to keep me out of it. This is why as a parent you just have to be responsible when taking your kids out into a place that could be dangerous for them. So in the end, i do think that the mother is 100% responsible for what happened. I sure hope she feels horrible about it and I do hope they make her give something back to the zoo in order to make things at least a little bit right.

Who cares if it makes it less enjoyable. If we choose to put on display for gawkers wild animals weighing hundreds of pounds then it is essential it is as secure as possible.

 

[wellington]

And lucky for you, it wasn't on social media so that you could be berated by the world.

Don't care. The truth does disturb people doesn't it.

 

[lisa127]

There is no and never will be a perfect parent. Common sense would do a lot of parents and people in general a whole lot of good.

You do realize when I said "until I'm a perfect parent" I did not really mean that and was trying to make a point right? My kids are adults...I think I've figured that out by now.

 

[lisa127]

Don't care. The truth does disturb people doesn't it.

Obviously

 

[wellington]

Yes, people need to stop pointing fingers. Exactly my point! This was a horrible tragedy for everyone involved. Time to stop berating the parents and just feel bad about what happened.

I can't agree about berating the parents. Way too many of them want to blame everyone but themselves. Besides, have they once said anything about it being their fault? Any thing at all? Not that I heard. They jumped on the band wagon of blaming the zoo. Possibly got caught up in the ambulance chasing lawyers little line of thousands they can get, but still their fault. They didn't watch their kid. Plain and simple . Had they been doing their job as a parent, none of this would have happened. The Zoo had barriers, they nor did the gorilla throw the kid in the enclosure. Look at all the kid had to go thru to get to a place to fall in. Enough time, too much time, for the parents not to notice their kid was gone. I do feel sorry, for the poor animal.

 

[Razan]

Maybe this child will grow up to be an animal conservationist. Does a 4 year old remember specific events ? I have none from so young. He will see the video and hear what his family says about this incident. What will this child take in from this experience?

My guess is the parent(s) will sue. Because of our twisted society lawyers will rake in a settlement and the adults will squander the money and the zoo will build a better barrier that they are already working on anyway.

In the end we have a dead gorilla and a traumatized child due to (negligent parents) a series of unfortunate events.

 

[Razan]

Before entering a park we will all soon be required to sign a waiver of responsibility. Our society is making it mandatory because of our laws. If people could just be reasonable and accept responsibility for their own actions we would not need laws.

 

[leigti]

I don't think people would be jumping on the parent so hard if the parent would just except responsibility. If she said "it was my fault, he just got away from me" I think a little sympathy would go her way rather than ridicule. And don't even get me started on the animal rights people who are condemning the zoo for shooting the gorilla. How many of them are true animal behaviorist? Did they see what happened during the entire episode? Eyewitnesses have said that there was more to it than just the video that has been seen by so many people. And what would they do if it was their son? And what would they have said if the gorilla would have killed that boy either by accident or by strength or aggression?
I think many people are very detached from animals in general. From wild animals down to the random pet dog. They forget that these are living breathing thinking creatures that cannot be controlled by our whims.
I'm not sure how to make a barrier that can't be crossed by somebody. Little kids can fit in amazingly small places and they are very flexible and a determined adult can get through about anything either. The only so-called winner in this case was the little boy, he came out with minor injuries and he may not even remember it.

 

[dmmj]

I've always been in favor of removing all the warning labels and let nature take its course but some people consider that harah

 

[dmmj]

growing up as a child a neighbor of mine had a nurse shark in a giant pond in his backyard. kids were always going into his backyard looking at it I was of the proper raising that you didn't go back there unless you ask

 

[Eric Phillips]

The human species is one of the smartest yet dumbest on the planet. We will never know what that Silverback gorilla was thinking at that moment, but it probably was "Damn humans can't ever keep their kids in line anymore!" To "holy **** they shot me like I was an unarmed human!" Fact is The negligence is on both sides, the zoo and the parents. Maybe next time the zoo should have an on staff Chris Pratt from Jurassic World to save the day! All I do know is circumstances happen for a reason. Whether humans take the time, money, and resources to learn from them to implement educated and proper change is another story. Then again we are talking humans and wild captive animals together in one big house....it's going down for real!!!

 

[save the gopher tortoise]

i was specifically thinking of ravines , cliffs and gorges where access is provided by the park service ..... there is one right by my house they provide a path and stairs to the top of a cliff , a trail along the edge and a path down the other side ...... if they provide your family access to it and your 4 yr old falls off the cliff would they not be as responsible ? your 4 yr old would not have been able to get there without their stairs ? i can think of many national parks across the country who provide stuff like this , nearby parking lots , access trails maintained by the park service , and even wheel chair access to some places , places you would never get your kids without their help ............i have seen exactly how that gorilla was displayed , not hardly like throwing a mamba in a crowd ..... a fence , i'd guess 3 feet , bushes , and the bushes you couldn't walk through they are dense and hard , either you'd need to go over them or under them , then a small cement wall with a 20 foot drop on the other side .......

I believe that instead of killing the gorilla they should of tranquilized it as any animal should not be killed for "attacks" as its not their fault they don't know any better its like if they executed that kid that accident my killed there parents.

 

[Rue]

They couldn't tranquilize it. It takes time for the tranquilizer to work. It hurts to get hit with a dart.

So you have an already upset and agitated gorilla...with a toddler in hand...you shoot the gorilla with a dart...it hurts...it aggravates the gorilla more...it takes time to work (10 minutes? More?)

What do you think is going to happen?

 

[wellington]

I agree to a degree. A tranq does make wild animals run and go crazy until it takes hold. However, I think they should have given the gorilla a chance and over tranq him and gave a shooter on stand by if it didn't work. The gorilla would have either went down with no damage to the kid, he would have died from getting too much, or it would have not worked good enough and the shooter was there to shoot him. It at least gave the animal a chance. After all, he did nothing wrong, at least a chance would have been nice, seeing if he wanted to kill that kid, it would have happened as soon as the kid was had by him.
Now, not only did the gorilla die, but the kid is probably traumatized and not to mention the trauma to some of the kids and people there while it was happening.

 

[Jodie]

I believe they had to shoot the gorilla. The child's life is more important than the animal! No contest. The reason this decision had to made though is disgusting.

 

[Rue]

I agree to a degree. A tranq does make wild animals run and go crazy until it takes hold. However, I think they should have given the gorilla a chance and over tranq him and gave a shooter on stand by if it didn't work. The gorilla would have either went down with no damage to the kid, he would have died from getting too much, or it would have not worked good enough and the shooter was there to shoot him. It at least gave the animal a chance. After all, he did nothing wrong, at least a chance would have been nice, seeing if he wanted to kill that kid, it would have happened as soon as the kid was had by him.
Now, not only did the gorilla die, but the kid is probably traumatized and not to mention the trauma to some of the kids and people there while it was happening.

That would have taken too much time to set up.