Only if the number of zoo patrons outruns the available concession snacks … 
It’s a token gesture and completely expected. How could they not make some sort of PR related token gesture? Zoo regulations haven’t changed and I don’t see zoos all over America making changes. I didn’t expect anyone here to be found negligent, or any charges to be filed. Did anyone, really?
Endangered animals will still be put at risk because it’s cheaper that way.
Not my area of expertise, but I’m pretty certain that in the US remedial steps taken after the fact, are not acceptable proof of negligence at the time of the accident. So, in this case, the zoo’s choice to change the fence after the incident, is not proof, nor an admission, that the previous fence was negligently inadequate.
Again, not my bailiwick, but I understand as public policy we don’t wish pending litigation to motivate against potential improvements.
(Apologies to any experts if I mangled any portion of that concept.)
If that is the “wood beams and rope netting” fence pictured, it is assuredly climbable by many children! Heck, the mesh could be further quartered, and my kids at that age could still have got up it, hooking in individual fingers and toes.
There is no conflict or discrepancy in saying that an event is both accidental, and the product of negligence.
The thing is, unlike busy streets and subway tracks, people with young children typically spend 3 - 4 hours at the zoo. Have you ever held someone’s hand for four hours straight?
Do you imagine anyone can hold a 3 year olds hand continuously for an entire morning?
If you expect people to have the level of vigilance at zoos that they have on busy streets, there will be no more zoos. Zoos ticket holders are mostly parents, and nobody is going to take their kid to spend the day someplace as dangerous as a subway platform. That sort of thing is the thing that parents go out of their way to avoid or minimize time in.
They don’t have to. Zoos are not remotely as dangerous as busy streets.
Just a little vigilance should suffice.
No. When you take your kids on the subway you make sure they don’t toss themselves on the track. Once you’re on the subway, you check your facebook and let your kids torment the other passengers. When you get off the subway you once again make sure they don’t toss themselves on the tracks. It’s the same thing at a zoo. People spend an average of 30 seconds to a minute in front of an attraction, then move on to the picnic tables and let their kids torment other zoo visitors, whose kids are tormenting you. When you’re spending a whole fucking two or three minutes in front of the critically endangered gorilla exhibit, you hold their fucking hands. It’s a simple job and you only have to do it for a few minutes. It’s not “all the damn time.” It’s not your day care center. You ain’t paying for that.
Of course not. I would not hold my kid’s hand walking between exhibits, or around exhibits where there was no possibility of accidents occurring. But if my kid said he wanted to play with the gorillas, I hope I would do something more than simply say, “Oh no you aren’t!” and then turn my attention from him even if only “for seconds”.
BTW, I hate that term. All of eternity is made up of seconds. No one had a stopwatch going, but was it 1-2 seconds? A minute or more? Sounded like she didn’t know her kid was missing until she asked another bystander what color pants the kid in the moat was wearing. Seems as tho she may have been inattentive for more than just a couple of seconds.
We don’t have all the details, and that is fine. Mom was there with 4 kids. How many were older/younger than the 3 yr old? What were the family’s past dynamics? Were these the kind of kids who run through the neighborhood unsupervised, or were they generally little angels, or somewhere in between? We don’t know.
Parenting styles differ. But I always thought I was primarily responsible for my kids’ safety. While accidents happened, I never for a second thought than anyone other than myself and my kids were to blame.
It’s always in question. News. I expect nothing to change. Endangered animals are expendable because profit. An endangered animal’s life is worth no more than a three-year-old human’s limited attention span. Because profit.
Zoo’s aren’t saving endangered animals. They’re being put in captivity and on display for three-year-olds who would be more thrilled with a McDonald’s cheeseburger. Let’s examine that.
And of course what matters is the blame.
Somebody to blame.
Would you prefer the words “at fault” or “responsible”?
You missed the point. I was not citing the OSHA requirements to define the proper barrier for children. I was using those cites to demonstrate the assumed definition of “fall” is not “deliberately climb over”.
Note, I’m not arguing for what should be the rule, I am merely pointing out there is enough ambiguity that the barrier is in compliance.
I certainly agree with this.
“Fence”.
“Netting”.