Cincinnati Zoo kills gorilla after 4-year-old climbs into his pen

[User 4332]

It's been more than 20 years since I last visited the Cincinnati Zoo and I don't particularly remember the gorilla exhibit, but it sounds like it took some serious inattention on someone's part for the child to be able to get into the pen.

Gorilla killed after 4-year-old falls into zoo enclosure

 

[Vombatus]

What gender did the gorilla self identify as?

 

[exmediahack]

I've always found zoos depressing and dangerous.

 

[RickStain]

I'm torn in situations like this.

Parents aren't perfect. Mistakes and lapses will happen. 9999 times out of 10000, nothing bad happens. I don't want to rush to villify the person unlucky enough to be the 10000th just to make myself feel better that it could never happen to me.

But at the same time, at that age, their speed far outweighs their judgment and I spent a lot of my time mentally calculating the safe distance I could let them wander and still run them down if they made a break for the nearest danger. In a crowded zoo, that distance is not far.

 

[Earthman]

If you can't manage your kids don't take em to the zoo. That simple.

 

[SpeedTchr]

"Be calm!"

 

[ChrisLong]

The latest national outrage.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

I made the mistake of visiting the Justice for Harambe Facebook page. People saying the mom or the kid should have been shot. The level of vitriol is fairly stunning.

 

[cjericho]

If you can't manage your kids don't take em to the zoo. That simple.

Parents should be shot. How the f can you not watch the kid around dangerous animals. While back there was a thread about kid falling over the railing at an arena in Cali (forget which one). there was some screeching here about suing the team. Guess this is similar, no way a kid should be able to climb into the cage. Of course there is a question of personal responsibility and when the F the parents are to blame. Guess the answer is never.

 

[cjericho]

I made the mistake of visiting the Justice for Harambe Facebook page. People saying the mom or the kid should have been shot. The level of vitriol is fairly stunning.

yes it is over the top to say the kid should have been shot. but can anyone explain how the F you let a kid get into the gorilla cage? Is there any possible explanation, other than having your head up your ass or being a bad parent? Remember going to the Bronx Zoo and other zoos as a kid and my mom would not let go of my hand, or would at least have a hold of my arm if i leaned on the railing to look at lions, tigers, gorillas, etc. Is there any reason, other than the parents' negligence, that the kid got into the gorilla cage?

 

[novelist_wannabe]

Based on the information that I've seen at this point, I'm not willing to jump to that conclusion. It's not clear what the circumstances were, and kids are unpredictable. In my experience, not every situation with children are cut and dried. What works for one kid may not work for another, and what works for one kid one day may not work for the same kid the next day.

 

[cjericho]

So the zoo was at fault because there is no way the kid should have been able to get in the cage?

 

[novelist_wannabe]

If that's the alternative to promoting the idea that the parents should be shot (which you've already advocated here) or the kid should be shot, then that's the way I'd lean, particularly when there are details about the situation that have not been made public. It is, after all, part of the zoo's job to ensure no breaches in their enclosures.

 

[cjericho]

If that's the alternative to promoting the idea that the parents should be shot (which you've already advocated here) or the kid should be shot, then that's the way I'd lean, particularly when there are details about the situation that have not been made public. It is, after all, part of the zoo's job to ensure no breaches in their enclosures.

OK dude, that was pretty much being facetious, guess it was not clear. Have to spell it out. Saying the parents should be shot, was saying they are f'n morons if they let the kid somehow get into the cage with the gorilla. Pretty much think either that or they just failed to watch the kid at that time. Pretty sure the Cincinnati Zoo has been open for several years, have they just been lucky to not have something like this happen?

 

[Earthman]

This lucky kid lived after doing something stupid. On the south side of Chicago kids get killed every weekend with less handwringing.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

Yes, you have to spell it out. Because here's the thing about being facetious: It gets repeated. And the more it's repeated, the more likely it is that some knucklehead will see it and then actually try to do it. So if you want to say the parents are morons, then just say they're morons.

If you're going to use a black/white standard on whether the parents were negligent, then you should submit to that same black and white standard in your armchair assessments of what happened and how it should be dealt with.

 

[RickStain]

Fault is never indivisible

 

[User 11148]

The "parents are ****in' morons" crowd may be right, but I'm pretty sure a big chunk of them have no clue how easy it is to lose track of a 4-year-old.

 

[ChrisLong]

Parents should be shot. How the f can you not watch the kid around dangerous animals. While back there was a thread about kid falling over the railing at an arena in Cali (forget which one). there was some screeching here about suing the team. Guess this is similar, no way a kid should be able to climb into the cage. Of course there is a question of personal responsibility and when the F the parents are to blame. Guess the answer is never.

Yes, I was recalling this when someone wondered if the parents are going to sue the zoo. A kid fell out of a suite at Staples Center because his parents weren't paying attention. The kid died.

Here is a story on this following a judge's ruling to throw out the lawsuit:

To his family hovering nearby, he seemed safe, with a tall Plexiglas window behind him to keep him from toppling over the edge.
His Vietnamese mother, Hoai Mi, was hunched over her camera just an arm’s length from him.
Witnesses tell police she snapped a photo of Lucas, then glanced down to check the image. In that split second, Lucas reportedly shifted to his right, to an area of the bar where the Plexiglas window was only ten inches high.
He tipped over it, and fell twenty-seven feet to the floor below.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

The "parents are ****in' morons" crowd may be right, but I'm pretty sure a big chunk of them have no clue how easy it is to lose track of a 4-year-old.

I went Hamilton (verbose and exhaustive). You went Burr (succinct). Yours is better.