New Years Day a news story came through about a Toddler "slipping through a barrier" during a Rhino Encounter at the Brevard Zoo in Florida.
At the time, with the New Year, I had been thinking about what issues I was going to continue to post about, and came up with very little. Having written about Barrier Breaching at our San Francisco Zoo for going on eight years now, I had pretty much done all that I could to get change and safety for our Zoo Friends. I had repeatedly documented the barrier breaching offences, in every way I could. I posted via blog, a Facebook Group I made, YouTube, Twitter, ... I had publicly, shared to the Zoo, AZA, and Media.
After over a year of including them in my tweets, the AZA had contacted me and requested more information. At the time, they had known about this already, so I'm not sure what the angle was in contacting me, but the end result a couple years later, remains the same. Not one thing has changed at the hot spots, barriers that are at four Code Red Animal enclosures. Black Rhino, Hippo, Black Bears and Grizzly Bears, all have barriers that people can misbehave at, which can possibly end with someone accidentally ending up in an enclosure and our Animals being killed.
Neither the Zoo and its governing entity the AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) has any problem with the existing barriers (at SFZoo), as is. ... Nothing more I can do, except pray no one falls in and our Animals stay safe. ... That said, I decided not to post anymore about the barriers, and to not worry about the lack of updates to the FB Group.
I have noted in everything I've written that the barriers need to be, at the very least "fool" proof, to cover accidental entries. I don't understand the resistance to keep the Animals safe and by proxy their biggest concern, the Humans. By putting up at least a solid barrier with some sort of spiking (I suggested the bamboo like at our Anteater) that would physically deter people from sitting and standing on the barriers. The only other issue would then be those who on rare occasion would for whatever reason voluntarily enter an enclosure. I'm told glassing in whole enclosures is too expensive. So I am then to guess that rolling the dice and crossing fingers is the way to go and if you end up having to kill an Animal that may come in contact with a Human, then that's the cheaper way to go versus "full" proof barriers?
At the SFZoo we can even get appropriate signage NOT to misbehave in general and certainly not serious words about barrier breaching. We have got a mishmash of small signs, here and there, with most understandable one being the smallest and less prevalent. Especially at Bears where there is near 100 ft of barrier and only four signs. Its irresponsible and embarrassing. .. That said about signage, people don't always read them, but its something, if you're not going to take any other precautions.
If someone falls in accidentally, or enters voluntarily, the end game is the same for the Animals. If they go anywhere near the Human, they are shot. Dead. Why doesn't anyone take this seriously? I welcome anyone at our SFZoo to explain this to me, because after eight years, I just don't get it.
So, let's come back to today. The catalyst for once again writing about this. I back burner-ed the Rhino incident at the Brevard Zoo (AZA), and moved on. Then today, we have the news of the Jaguar attack at Wildlife World Zoo (Non-AZA). Here we have two examples of both sides of the issue.
The Rhino incident was accidental but could have been avoided if the Zoo had a better barrier situation, and the Parent was watching their kid. I see some messed up Parenting, in the nano second it took to type that, at least four situations I've seen crossed my mind. The most recent one, a couple weeks ago, two nannies sitting at Black Rhino, with their backs turned to the enclosure, staring down at their phones, while four Toddlers ran to the Rhino exhibit and started to scale the fencing. Unbelievable. ... The Rhino story also contained a quote from another Parent who went to the Rhino Encounter on a different day.
>The zoo has said this is the only such incident since the exhibit opened in 2009, but investigators said (name withheld) contacted them during the investigation, saying one of her grandchildren intentionally squeezed through the vertical bars and entered the rhino exhibit in 2010."I turned around, and I about had a heart attack," she told Channel 9 on Wednesday. "I snatched her so fast and got her out of there."<
I'm sorry but What the Hell? Why are people not watching Kids in their care?
Today's Jaguar story, a voluntary incident. Thankfully the Zoo in Arizona did not kill the Animal. I'm actually in line with their thinking and applaud them for being bluntly honest about the situation. In SF, that Animal would be dead. ... On Sunday, the Zoo (Wildlife World Zoo) assured people that “nothing will happen to our jaguar.” “She’s a wild animal and there were proper barriers in place to keep our guests safe,” the zoo tweeted. “Not a wild animals fault when barriers are crossed.” ..."Please understand why barrier are put in place".
Note: Published post before finding a photo of the Jaguar barrier. Just screencaped this news video. Having some additional thoughts. Will probably post again about this, since near twenty people have already read this post.
So let's end with the question, Why people are so careless with their Kids lives and their own, not to mention putting any Animal they act the fool with, at risk of losing its life? I read many comments, even by my friends, who use the words, stupid and dumb. Myself, I'm not that nice to use such words for people I consider unworthy of niceties when they are making Animals vulnerable to losing their lives because of their misbehavior. For me, I've grown intolerant of all misbehavior towards Animals. I've seen too much in the past decade that I have spent a concentrated time at the Zoo and in the Park, to give any passes. I do not think that in the age of technology anyone should be stupid. You can learn anything on the internet. Learn to be Respectful of other Beings or stay the hell home.
That said, in my hometown, I have seen a change in the population since the .com era. People are the rudest, self-entitled bunch I have ever come in contact with. It is that feeling of entitlement that I think guides many of these acts. It certainly is what happened with the Jaguar incident. That girl wanted a photo, much like those who take photos with Sea Lion pups and give no shit that it drives the Mother away and the pup is left orphaned to starve, as long as they have their photo. It's what drive's people to sit their kids on the barriers, because they can do whatever they want, because nothing will happen. Tell that to the Mother who did the same in Pittsburgh several years back, I'm sure she didn't think she'd drop her kid into the Wild Dogs. Even the day after Harambe (Cincinnati Gorilla) was killed after a negligent Mother let her kid wander into the enclosure, which I should note was not fool or full proof, I saw three people hanging their kids into enclosures at SFZoo. People don't seem to be waking the F up, they seem to be getting worse. So, Zoos need to do something so that they are in charge of keeping the Animals safe.
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This Comment sent to blogger from ...
ReplyDeleteMichael Groob - Its now common practice to trust everyone else to look out for you. Everyone has to put out signs for something which is basically common sense and a personal act of self preservation. People have deferred responsibilities to life coaches, pastors, talk show hosts, and an entire media presence to tell them how to live their lives. People cannot determine actual threat levels which is why the NRA is dependent on sowing the fear that vice president Wayne LaPierre lives under. I do not feel "safer" knowing that the gun toting Walmart man is living under a delusion that these forces are out to get him because "Wayne told me it was this way." Our entire way of life has become this overwhelming sense that we are supposed to have a now unreasonable level of safety.
In Condoleeza Rice's words "American's are not one hundred percent safe." I don't want to be one hundred percent safe! I want the ability to make a determination for myself and expect that a majority of other
people are capable of doing the same thing, that they are taking the essence of what it means to be human, in the most basic sense, and use it to their advantage. Sadly, this deferment of personal responsibility
has become a sense of entitlement. There are resources available to everyone, but they are not utilized equally in the sense that, well, common sense is not equally utilized even though everyone has the capacity for it.
If people cannot or will not establish for themselves what imminent danger or peril is, I don't know what to tell them. We live in an age where the excuse is "No one told me not to." We shouldn't have to.