Animals in Captivity

cincybearcat said:

All those staying kids can get away in the blink of an eye....I don't agree fully. And the real parenting happens from day 1 so when a 4 year old sees a fence they aren't even thinking about getting through or going over. But then again, most parents are becoming more and more complacent. Instead of parenting they are videoing their kids doing bad/stupid/dangerous stuff. All the whole the kid is creating bad habits.

my son was a climber. he'd scale the massive pine tree in our yard and I allowed it. I allowed cause its what I did as a child. there was a chance he could fall sure... but there was also an equal chance he wouldn't. did I keep an eye on him in public? absolutely. and I did so because I knew it would take him a split second to 'escape'. his father however was a little more complacent and once had to pick his son up from the police station cause at less than 2 years of age, he wandered off from his dad and decided to walk home on his own. friendly neighbours called the cops and well you know the rest. when I heard of the incident I asked his father did he move away from the last spot our son had seen him. he hesitated just a little and I knew that's exactly what he'd done. so my son turned around, no longer saw his father and not being a crier/screamer/whiny kid he decided well ill just meet dad at home. he knew how to get home because he was always walking down there with me. things could've ended up differently ie he could've been abducted, hit by a car crossing the street etc.. but he wasn't and my son is now an 18 year old motor mechanic. all it takes is a split second of distraction and your child is 'gone'. it happens. heck I lost track of my eldest in a toy shop once. parenting is difficult at the best of ... add the excitement of a zoo and the distraction of other kids/people and next thing you know little johnny's is sitting in the gorilla moat out of safety's reach. all it takes is seconds... half a second quicker and mom may have seen what the kid was doing and called him back. it sucks the gorilla is dead. it sucks the gorilla is even in captivity. but the bottom line is a child's safety is of primary concern in this situation. apportioning blame doesn't change the outcome. kids are kids, they are inquisitive and fearless little creatures. if they don't see a danger, if its not pointed out to them(and sometimes even if it is) they wont see it. so what im saying is yes kids can get away from you in a split second.. especially when there are people around. you look one way and theyre scooting off in the opposite direction lost in the crowd.

Can someone with a real, actual connection to the internet post some info (graphics or photos) of the enclosure?

Thanks for posting that. I think I said earlier, in 38 years (something like that) no one had ever gotten through or into the gorilla enclosure. So yeah, that design looks pretty bad, but it must have been up to some kind of code. The zoo people aren't morons.

First world problems ...

It is crazy to me how quickly people move from personal responsibility to "they didn't do enough to protect my kid when I wasn't".

It's nuts