Is it reasonable for zoos to expect parents to control their children? What legal action could zoo take against the parents who fail to do so?
And if there’s a gorilla shortage, where is the zoo going to get a new one? Capture It from the wild? Transfer from another zoo? Put a male and a female together and let them make hot monkey love? Sale at Peeble’s pet store? I’m sure zoos have agreements to control animal populations so as not to overburden resources. It could take the zoo years to replace that gorilla.
Exactly. Whatever costs are incurred in replacing the gorilla should be paid by the parents, until the zoo is fully reimbursed. If they’re unable to repay it in full, the kid should start making the payments upon reaching maturity.
Debts can’t be passed down generations. The kid was way too young to understand the consequences of what he was doing.
An exception should be made in this case. An endangered great ape, a close relative of human species, was killed. There must be consequences for parents now, and, if they’re unable to bear them fully, for the kid later.
Y’all realize that the devil is entirely in the details? I mean, if it comes out that the kid squirmed through a corner where several other pre-schoolers had almost gotten through before, to the point that the zoo staff referred to the spot at the “toddler trap”, well, then that would change things. On the other hand, if there’s security footage of the mom on her phone while the kid laboriously drags a bench over, makes several aborted attempts to climb a tree, and then finally hauls his still-distracted mom over to use her back as a brace so that he can lever himself into the tree and over a fence, that’s a different story.
The truth is probably somewhere in between those extremes, but in the absence of any actual information, it seems insane to speak with any sort of confidence about who was at fault here.
Perhaps The Apes of Wrath.
mmm
Why the kid? Do you really think the kid understands what he did?
Well, someone should pay for it. Who do you suggest it be?
You and your posts are disgusting.
The parents, I have no problem with. Do you really want to be held responsible for every stupid decision your parents made?
Well, that’s not solving the problem. Who should reimburse the zoo costs, if the parents are unable to do so fully?
You? Me? Taxpayers? Obviously not. Let the kid pay once he reaches maturity and hope that’ll imprint on him the necessity of controling his own kids. How else would the cycle of stupidity that runs in the family be broken?
At least the gorilla was a sure fire ticket box draw.
The kid was obviously and an aspiring B&E criminal.
I agree with this, I would like to hear more about how secure it was before I say who’s mostly at fault. I would guess it’s probably closer to the first scenario, because I’d think that if a small child was trying to drag benches around and climb trees to get in, some other parent would notice and yell or do something, but I don’t know.
Enclosures should be made very difficult to get into, but there’s no way to make them 100% secure, even from a small determined child, unless zoos were made prohibitively expensive. You can add all sorts of security measures, but there’s still the swiss cheese model where that one instance where everything lines up and things go wrong. But security should be so that a kid getting in is a one in a million likelihood, not like a one in one hundred chance or something like that.
How about sterilizing him so he can’t reproduce.
And what if he can’t pay? Does it now be put on his kids? There’s also the interest to consider. How many generations will be held accountable?
The insurance company will reimburse the zoo. That’s what insurance is for.
Excuse me? Please do not conflate my posts with Pylesos’. Of the ones you quoted, I don’t like his either, and mine was merely factual.
Again, the zoo’s fault for not bring in Koko The Gorilla as the negotiator.
I think you’re right. AFACT, the kid was able, somehow, to get around the barrier(s) and enter the enclosure. And by being “right” I mean more likely how a lawsuit would end up.
When it was revealed that the kid is African-American, the social mobs are even less sympathetic it seems!
The mother, Michelle Greggs, has released a statement on facebook.
Some commenters suggested that SHE was the real gorilla and her son an ape-like cretin
I have a friend who works at the Kansas City zoo and he is on the shooter team. They actually are trained to shoot and kill all the dangerous animals. for example on an elephant they aim for an area of the leg.
I dont think you can make enclosures safe enough to stop every stupid act. for example he said people are always jumping over the fence surrounding the lion and tiger cages to get up close. close enough where the tiger just has to reach their paws thru and get them.