Barrier Breaching - Recent Incidents at Two Zoos

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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Blogger's Statement
"Personal Opinions and Facts presented publicly are Not against the law or any rules. ... Censorship and Retaliation Actions in an attempt at Suppression are frowned upon by Healthy Societies."
For Full Statement see this post:
https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2018/09/my-zoo-status.html
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Barrier Breaching No Big Deal - I Just Don't Understand

So yeah, this exhausting subject again.  I actually didn't plan on writing about this again, as I've pretty much exhausted all that I can do to document and bring awareness to this issue.  As well, if you've been following my recent posts, you may have noticed that I put a few posts in draft, as I am wrapping up all in progress posts and wanted to end this round with a certain flow and finale.  Unfortunately the other day, the following happened, and I felt I must document it.  As my title states, I just don't understand.  I don't understand the Zoo's and the AZA's position of ignorance at what I consider a serious issue.

As I walked up towards Hippo and Black Rhino, two women each had a kid sitting over the Hippo barrier.  I didn't get a photo in time, but as I looked ahead, another had their kid over the Rhino barrier.

After I took this photo, Big Cat Keeper Andrew came walking by.  I called his attention to the offense, and he said he'd be back.  This was surprising as most Keepers will say something if you point this out.  I think its negligent that he did not immediately say something.  I guess playing with the photos on the cat grotto windows was more important than the life of the Rhino or the kid.  All it takes is a split second for an accident to happen and the kid falls into the enclosure and the Rhino comes over and makes contact, whether threatening or not.  Rhinos are Code-Red Animals, and if contact is made between a Code-Red Animal and a Human, the protocol is shoot to kill.  I complain about management having their priorities messed up, but I'm very disappointed when a member of the Keeper staff, doesn't put Animal Safety first. 

By the time Andrew wandered back, of course that lady had taken her kid down.  Less than ten minutes later, this guy had his kid up there.  That's four kids over barriers in about fifteen minutes.  Fifteen minutes of one day, at one area.  The Zoo is open 420 minutes everyday, with multiple barriers being breached.

This Rhino exhibit, Hippo and Bears, are the most abused barriers.  Its a continuous stream of people hanging their kids over and something I've written about for over seven years now.  Still the Zoo Management does nothing to deter this behavior.  There is no verbal guidelines for this, and there is minimal signage, something else I've written about to an exhausting level.  

The Zoo has three different signs about barriers.  Two make reference to crossing, one to standing/sitting.  Curiously, for something so potentially tragic, all are smaller than most other signs at the Zoo.  In the first photo on this post, you can see one of the ones about crossing the barrier.  The woman has her kid over the barrier right in front of the sign.  Its the stupidest sign.  I asked people once how they interpreted it and one person said they thought it meant no peeing in the exhibit.  

Here's the one sign that specifically says not to stand/sit on barrier.  You can see the pathetic size of it.  Curiously, this sign appears in only a few places.  At Bears, for as long as that barrier is, I think there is only one of these signs.  Seven inches, in probably over a hundred feet of barrier.  I don't think this sign is even at Rhinos.  BUT, it is at Sikafa???  Don't get me wrong, I think it should be a Zoo-wide rule for people not to be on or over any barriers, but for the sake of comparison, this is an Animal that is fenced in and not Code-Red.  Not sure what that's about, but its obviously a head shaker.  ... THIS sign should be huge and at the entrance of the Zoo, as well as at least every ten feet of every exhibit barrier. 

Sifaka exhibit

You can search this blog for keywords, barriers and signage and come up with lots of entries.  Many photos of signs of curious size, in regard to the nature of the message.  Last week these new signs appeared for the event Zootoberfest.  Gotta make sure everyone knows all there is about the Hay Maze, including do's and don'ts, but they can't tell people in a larger way not to hang over barriers?  I think there are more signs in this one Maze area than all of the barrier signs on Code-Red Animals.  Keep in mind the size of that one sign as you see the size of these signs.  Mind boggling. 

Nice big and fancy on wood!  

approx 3x5 

approx 2x8 

Sandwich board in path

Rules on Stand at entrance of Maze.

approx 8x11, at least three times 

the size of rules about barrier breaching.

There was also two huge banners about 2.5 x 5.5 feet attached to the hay bales. So that's four huge signs, one sandwich board, and a stand-up rules sign.  Six for this one non-Animal area and I think the tally at Code-Red Animal areas is, three at Bears, two at Rhino and one at Hippo. ... Also this new one that is at least eight times the size of the barrier sign, is on a cover of pipes.  Gotta make sure they toss about their Conservation efforts, especially while people are hanging over the barriers putting Animals lives at risk and Ducks are playing Russian Roulette with their lives flying into windows at Flamingos. Good Grief , its all so Shameful. 

I apologize for the quality off the photos on this post.  I didn't have time to download them to computer so just took pix of my camera display.

Additional update:  Still no decals on the Flamingo windows.  Two weeks now since it was called to Zoo's attention verbally by several people, in writing and on this blog.

In case you missed the previous post: http://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2018/09/squirrel-monkeys-havent-been-outside-in.html

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Blogger's Statement
"Personal Opinions and Facts presented publicly are Not against the law or any rules. ... Censorship and Retaliation Actions in an attempt at Suppression are frowned upon by Healthy Societies."
For Full Statement see this post:
https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2018/09/my-zoo-status.html

At A Glance - Safety Related Blog Posts

http://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2014/02/mandrills-get-glassed-success.html

http://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2013/10/chimp-exhibit-inside-barrier-still.html

http://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2013/10/kids-allowed-beyond-barriers-at-chimp.html

http://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2013/07/more-barrier-breaching-human-jumps.html

http://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-different-kind-of-barrier-breaching.html

http://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2013/03/san-francisco-zoo-connecting-people.html

Signs Regarding Barrier Crossing = Curious

Well, I know the title says "signs" plural, but I couldn't find the other photos I took.  No worries this is a good one for the head scratchers out there, and there will be time for the others.

So as documented in many posts, Barrier Breaching at the Zoo is rampant, and signs Not To are near non-existent.  This puts the Animals at risk on a daily basis.  There are still no answers as to why this is.  With all the posting I do about this, as well the obvious issue it is, the Zoo continues to do near nothing and I say near, because as posted, they did put some small signs up at Black Rhinos.  Sadly they are so small that no one pays attention to them.

While I have admitted that signs are not the fix, they could help deter.  I have suggested other things but none have been implemented.

YET we have this, in front of a non-living Animal.  I get (as I've seen) that the Zoo does not want to be responsible for people climbing on this and falling.  

But, the sign here is bigger than that at the Black Rhino's AND forget about the exhibits that don't even have signs.

SO of course we have this 

& the question begs