Killing the Gorilla

And 

Sorry, but I have a tough time taking someone who uses so many exclamation points seriously. Sheesh.

Reminds me of this:

I call the child a "problem" child because he was overheard as saying he wanted to go into the exhibit and eventually did. He was not minded, he was not watched, he was not removed from the situation to diffuse his ridiculous desire to go swim with the gorillas. Maybe the kid is the best kid on the face of the earth at all other times, but not at this point. At this point, this child should have been the centre of attention from the parent (well, actually there was no way that was going to happen since the woman was over her head with 6 kids and felt a photo was more important than making sure her child didn't do what he wanted to do).

Why am I thinking the absolute worst of the mother? Because for 38 years kids have gone to this zoo and this never happened. Because a woman had the brilliant thought to take 6 kids to a busy zoo by herself, not thinking that it would be impossible to watch each child effectively and safely. Because the kid blatantly said it wanted to go in the exhibit and instead of either removing all the children or making sure she had a firm grip on this one child, she took a damn photo of the other kids. Because it's a damn shame that a beautiful gorilla had to die because of her lapse of judgement. That's why I'm judging her harshly. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that little kids can make stupid choices, I've always been taught that as the adults in the situation, we're supposed to be on top of that. And going to a zoo with 5 other kids by herself basically set her group up for disaster. 

Nope. Don't have children. But I have spent a lot of time around small children. I'm sorry but if I'm in a gorilla exhibit and someone (I don't care how old they are) says something like "I want to go in there", you bet I'm going to watch them closely... particularly if they have poor impulse control, as toddlers and pre-schoolers are prone to have. Knowing that little kids are prone to impulse moves, you bet your ass I'm going to watch them like a hawk in a highly stimulating, busy, crazy environment. Why wouldn't I.

I may not have kids, but I am so sick of that negating my opinion. But it's typical to hear. 

Please tell me something labeled "childproof" that actually is childproof?

When my nephew was 3, he could open child proof medication bottles faster than I could. He was a climber and a runner, and my sister used every child proofing item for doors available on the market, and the strongest one only took about 4 minutes for him to figure out. She did have about 2 years where she was not able to go very many places, because if he saw something he wanted, he ran, and it was impossible to restrain him. If you think it was just bad parenting, her two older children were the most docile and listening children ever.

If we had a thread a week ago about this Zoo, and that they were almost 40 years incident-free, with a 3 foot wall, bushes, and a moat to keep people out of the gorilla exhibit, would you be saying it was not child-proof?

I don't think the zoo is claiming to, or should be required to be "child proof". There are barriers to the exhibits, which cannot reasonably be breached. Adults should know better than to breach them and children should be adequately supervised to prevent them from breaching it. There are dangers everywhere, no area is ever going to be completely child proof, people need to take responsibility for their safety and that of their children.

My point was, nothing is truly childproof. How about instead of banning zoos, we put some of the responsibility on parents? For years and years people have visited that Zoo, and they have not had an incident of a child going in the gorilla enclosure. If the parent that day had a better eye on her child, he wouldn't have been able to get in there. I'm not saying it is 100% the parents fault, but the blame should not be on the zoo.

You said to shut the zoos down. Do you also feel this way about amusement parks, water parks, pools, etc? There are dangers at all those places as well, and people have been injured or died. I'm just trying to understand your reasoning for suggesting to shut down zoos.

Yes...there are dangers everywhere with one HUGE difference in amusement parks, water parks, pools, etc....if an accident happens a poor innocent gorilla or any other sentient being will not be killed because of it.

There's no such thing as "child proof". That's why it's up to you to be responsible for your children and keep them safe. Why do people think it's always somebody else's responsibility? The zoo is doing their job by keeping animals from getting out. It's your job to keep your kids from going in.

My post was in reply to another post which stated "how much childproof does it have to be?" (or something to that effect). I'm not placing the blame on any of the parties involved.

I don't believe it's the zoo's job to make every exhibit "child proof". I believe it's the zoo's job to protect their animals and build their animal enclosures so the animals can't get out. It's also their job to build their enclosures with signs, warnings and safety features so people don't go in.  Adult people who are then responsible for their children. Every child or handicapped person who comes to the zoo comes there with a caretaker who is responsible for that child's or that person's welfare. Everyone understands that. Adults read the warning signs and are supposed to obey them-"Don't stand on the barrier or let your child sit on the barrier" and so on. 

I believe this mother is 100% responsible for what happened that day. It was her decision to take 6 young children to the zoo on that busy weekend (from what I've read I think it was not only her 2 but 4 additional kids plus she was by herself?) Not positive about those last two details and they don't really matter, but it was her decision to take 6 kids to the zoo and I do believe she was by herself. 6 kids to take of by yourself if they are young is difficult.

She had a warning. More than one even when this boy told her over and over what he wanted to do. He wanted to go down in there to be with gorilla in the water. It isn't like he didn't say a thing and just fell down there. That would be totally different. I am a mother. If my son had to me that and didn't listen to me when I said no we would have left that exhibit. As a mother you don't take chances. One Pea said kids say lots of things when they are small. Yes, they do. But I would have known on a hot day if my son would have meant what he said, if he's expressed a desire like that, and I would have removed him from the exhibit to be safe. We would have left. It's not worth the chance for something to go wrong. I think a lot of mothers here would have done the same thing. But this particular mother-what did she do? She ignored him-didn't watch him after he'd told her over and over and proceeds to take her eyes off him and takes photos! 

That right there clinched it for me. It wasn't like she looked away for a second and he fell in. She purposely decided to ignore what he was saying and decided taking photos was more important. He took his chance and went for it. He didn't know what kind of danger lay ahead of him-that was his mother's job. He's an innocent in this. I don't think he's a problem child, but then I don't know him at all. He was probably just a hot little boy who took a chance to do what he wanted.

My son has severe ADHD and I managed to keep him safe with multiple visits to the National Zoo. I'm a rule follower (always have been) and I paid attention to the signs. This zoo never had an incident like this in 38 years. It  isn't the zoo's fault. It's the mother's fault. The zoo has suffered enough with having to kill their critically endangered gorilla because of this woman. She better not try to sue because of this but something tells me she will. I am sick to death of all of the law suits being filed because Americans can't accept their own blame for their stupidity when something happens and instead lash out and blame anyone else. I hope if she sues the zoo she doesn't get a penny but something else tells me they'll settle just to shut her up. I hope not. She deserves no less than to be charged for child negligence. 

Debbie in MD.

Bravo!!!