I don’t understand why so many people seem to have a strong need to blame someone. Sometimes bad things happen. It could be that someone is to blame for what happened, but at first blush it appears to be just a very unfortunate situation, with everyone doing their best to fix it. Can someone help me understand the need to blame?
^Part of it is mourning the loss of the beautiful animal. “Just unfortunate” doesn’t seem to cut it.
I was the hyper-vigilant mom of wild children. Telling them a gorilla could tear them apart would have just been a tempting dare. There was a time when I repeatedly showed them road kill, trying to emphasize safe street crossing, and it had zero impact.
Harnesses and leashes were impossible, because they would just trip others with them. The solution was to keep them in strollers. At four, they visited zoos, aquariums, museums strapped in strollers and if they fussed, they went home immediately. By age six, they had learned to keep their hands to themselves and listen to me… more or less. Of course, anyone with this type child will understand you can’t possible think of all the things you have to tell them they aren’t allowed to do, even once they reach the age they won’t do it if they know they aren’t allowed.
Zoos know all parents aren’t like me. They aren’t watching their kids closely. Some are dangling them over barriers. That is why we insist places that encourage child visitors are child safe. To me, the described enclosure, sounds like an accident waiting to happen, even if it hadn’t for 38 years.
I have no idea if society should feel an obligation to try and help parents with wild kids. Last week I waved my arms and yelled and prevented a tiny child from being backed over by a huge SUV which couldn’t see him. His mom had left him in the car while she went inside to pay for gas and he decided to go find her. I wish someone had been able to grab the zoo kid.
^^To see if anything can be done to prevent incidents like this in the future.
The article also discusses a few other problems at this zoo, which I had already read about other places.
Both the St. Louis and San Diego zoos had lots of volunteers who stood near the enclosures of the gorillas, orangs, lions, pandas etc. The volunteers monitored activity near these enclosures and for instance, repeatedly told children to stop thumping on the glass or to stop shouting or to not look the gorillas directly in the eye. It was more for the animals protection but Cincinnati might try this if they don’t already. The volunteers were more vigilant than the parents.
@MomofWildChild – Another lawyer behind jailbars? How long is your term? 
Anyway, I appreciated what you said. I used to take my much younger siblings to the San Diego Zoo, and one of them in particular was the one I needed to keep watch on every moment. Not always easy. Zoos spend a lot of time and money designing enclosures to protect both animals and visitors, and then someone figures out a way around.
I’m furious at the mother/parents. I also have a love/hate feeling about zoos in general, because it seems so mean to cage beautiful wild animals (but of course I took my children to them, and we loved them, so yes, I am a hypocrite). But I am still furious at the parents.
In the comments sections of one of the articles I read, a bunch of men were insisting the Dad should have gone in after the kid, and that if they had been there they would have gone in, even for someone else’s kid. They all seemed to agree they would have been okay with dying in an attempted rescue. It was an interesting point of view to me.
I’m on the side of closing zoos to protect the animals.
Was the dad there? Everything I’ve seen has referenced the mom only so I assumed she was there by herself.
There was also something up thread that said a dad (not the kids’ dad) did go after the kid and still couldn’t grab him.
To me, something seems off about the timeline of that particular dad going in but I can’t put my finger on what is off.
i’m fine with closing zoos. The only reason I went to this one was because I was babysitting my cousins and that was on the agenda for the day. I don’t voluntarily go to zoos. I have a rescue farm near me that is open to the public that I go to if I want to be around animals other than my furbabies.
I also wonder why there is not a fast acting tranquilizer that would allow for zoo personnel to quickly enter the enclosure to recover the child and temporarily incapacitate the gorilla without killing him. In this day and age that must exist, no?
“^^To see if anything can be done to prevent incidents like this in the future.”
That, and it presents an interesting problem. This reads like a philosophy or law case. Analyzing these tough situations can shed light on principles we want to follow.
Fast acting tranquillizers on 400 llb animals are tough. And unless its instant, what do you do with the uncertainty of the animal’s reaction to it? What if he gets agitated or scared and starts hurting the child?
My inclination for being this way from toddlerhood till early elementary school was one good reason why from toddler till early elementary school my immediate/extended family kept a death grip on me when we visited Zoos…especially in areas with lions, tigers, bears, gorillas, etc. Later on as an older teen/adult, I’ve noticed how not only kids, but also idiotic teens/undergrads/young adults attempted to scale high enclosures to “hang with the animals”. Thankfully, they were stopped by fellow visitors and/or zoo personnel.
While zoos should do all they reasonably can, the primary responsibility for safeguarding a child is still with his/her parents and/or older relatives if available or in the case of older teens/young adults…the onus of responsibility is IMO…solely on them.
I personally did not reference the dad when I wrote my piece because honestly, I had no idea the dad was there. I’ve only heard the mother mentioned.
Mom has 4 kids, dad is a felon. Pictures and their bio:
I find it a little strange that even a rambunctious 4 year old would catapult himself over a 15 foot drop. I would think most 4 year olds would have the protective sense to realize not to navigate that kind of drop. The fall alone could have been more damaging.
“I also wonder why there is not a fast acting tranquilizer that would allow for zoo personnel to quickly enter the enclosure to recover the child and temporarily incapacitate the gorilla without killing him.”
Any kind of anesthesia is tricky. Enough to put out an animal of that size and strength instantly would likely be enough to kill him anyway. With adrenaline pumping, it can be hard to predict results as well.
According to stories I’ve read she turned her back for a moment to deal with the child’s crying sister and when she turned back he had gone in. She wanted to climb into the enclosure to get him but was told it would likely make the gorilla more aggressive.
I’m with those that feel the parent(s) are to blame.
As a single mom, I was always VERY assertive with my son. He was NEVER out of my line of site when I had him in public and that was at museums, zoos, sporting events, and many other venues. When we went somewhere with a crowd, my hand was always on him probably until he was out of elementary school. When I raised my voice, he KNEW to take me seriously. (Well at least until he became a teenager ).
My sister’s personality is entirely different from mine. She is not at all assertive and it drives me CRAZY being around her and her 3 young children. I remember going to a restaurant with them before she had her youngest son and the older 2 were maybe 3 and 4 and they were dumping their plates on the floor and throwing food. I felt embarrassed and sorry for the staff and other patrons. She would politely tell them to stop and they would literally laugh at her.
Once I was with her and her children at a department store and she stopped to look at something and her 2 oldest kids took off. Maybe I saw the movie about Adam Walsh too many times when I was growing up, but she seemed completely unconcerned and I was in a panic. When I found her son, then 7 years old, I picked him up and carried him for the remainder of the time we were in the store.
My sister is a very caring and concerned mother with good intentions, but she has absolutely no control over her kids. If she stops at Walmart and they take off and are out of her site and break something on the shelves, is it the fault of Walmart for putting breakable merchandise on the shelves??? I love my sister, but if her kids ever get hurt or break something valuable, I can’t imagine thinking it’s anyone fault but hers.
@partyof5 Tamir Rice had multiple petitions signed on his behalf. https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=tamir+rice+petition