5 Meerkats Destroyed because of parent negligence!

[Toby'sFriend]

and a couple of years ago a wolf at the Brookfield zoo had to be shot after an ADULT woman decided to climb over an iron bar fence and pet him through the fence.

http://www.nbc5.com/news/2637888/detail.html?z=dp&dpswid=2265994&dppid=65192

sadly, it is very poor zoo design to have any display that allows humans even a small chance of being close to the animals.

 

[poohandwendy]

Can someone please explain to me WHY they had to put the animals down? Either these meercats or the bears in another post. I can totally understand animals in the wild or say the family dog because the chances of these animals coming into contact with others is pretty high, but in a zoo for the most part the animals are isolated.

Because even though the animals were vaccinated against rabies...state law requires that in the event of a bite, the animals must be tested if the human is not being treated. The only way to test the animals is post-mortem.

This would have been avoided completely if the girl's parents agreed to her having the rabies series. It is done because even the remote chance (because they were vaccinated), if you wait and the animals do end up having rabies, the person would die.

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

The zoo should sue the parents for the cost of destorying, testing and replacing the animals. If any of the keepers feel overly destrought at the loss of these animals than they to should seel legal action against the negligent(sp?) parents. I won't be surprised to hear it is the parents sueing the zoo for negligence instead.

 

[arminnie]

The zoo should sue the parents for the cost of destorying, testing and replacing the animals. If any of the keepers feel overly destrought at the loss of these animals than they to should seel legal action against the negligent(sp?) parents. I won't be surprised to hear it is the parents sueing the zoo for negligence instead.

I thought the same thing about putting holding the parents responsible.

 

[Sherri]

I can not believe the parents! Its unfortunate that they were so selfish and their child had no respect for the rules.

 

[azgal81]

Was no one else around to see her do this?? Other zoo goers could have stopped her as well. The parents should have known better I wonder what they were so busy doing that they didn't see this happening. And the animals had to be put down becuase the girl refused to get tested. Give me a break wouldn't you care more about your daughter and get her tested immediately if there was even a slim chance of rabies. The parents should be held responsible.

 

[doxdogy]

My child would be learning the same lesson too.

Now see if that were my child it wouldn't have happened but if by some chance it had then my kids would have gotten the shots and learned a valuable lesson about what barriers are for.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

Yeah, me too. Nobody wanted to cross Eleanor. Give me shots anyday, but please don't fling in there with my mother

Being a paraplegic never got me off the hook with my mother, either. In the beginning, I thought I might could get away with more, but believe you me she found different ways to wear my butt out.

 

[tigerdragon]

This is so sad. I can't believe how some people can have such disrespect for animals. I'm sure my 5 year old would love to pet a meerkat because they are so cute but I would never let him out of my sight in a public place, especially not at a zoo. I once had to tell some children around 9 or 10 to stop throwing jellybeans into a meerkat exhibit. The parents were standing nearby and didn't say anything.

BTW, I love Meerkat Manor, too.

 

[ducklite]

SOunds like the parents should be investigated on suspicion of child neglect to have even allowed the child to put themselves into that situation.

Anne

 

[Daxx]

The 9-year-old girl, who has not been identified, was bitten Wednesday when she reached her hand into the animals' exhibit.

The meerkats -- two mates and their three offspring born this spring -- had been vaccinated for rabies but were killed because the girl's parents didn't want her to have to undergo a series of rabies shots, said zoo collections manager Tony Fisher.

If my child did this, I'd tell him that he has no other option than having the rabies shots b/c he had no right to stick his hands where they didn't belong. Maybe, through the painful shots, he'd learn a lesson and would never do that again.

That girl was old enough to know not to stick her hands where they don't belong, esp. in a zoo!!!!

If I were the zoo, I would've insisted that the kid have the shots b/c it's not their fault that the kid couldn't follow the rules.

 

[kejoda]

We were planning on going to the zoo on Wed. I don't have a problem telling kids to get down when they are doing something dangerous.

I'm having troubling picturing where she could get close enough to them to have them bite her. She must of really been reaching. Stupid parents.

 

[Cool-Beans]

I probably would have had the kid get the shots.

But honestly, the folks who displayed the animals should have seen this coming. It isn't hard to figure out that some kid will get their hand in there if it is possible.

 

[Charade]

Now see if that were my child it wouldn't have happened but if by some chance it had then my kids would have gotten the shots and learned a valuable lesson about what barriers are for.

 

[MeanLaureen]

Ugh.. not another one.

Richmond's Maymont park lost their 2 beloved bears that they raised from orphaned cubs this spring because some stupid parent allowed their child climb one fence to go up to the bear habitat and feed them apples through the chain link fence and the child was nipped.

Of course she waits 5 days until AFTER the bears were killed to say "but I was going to call and say we would do the treatments so the bears could live". Yeah right. The bite happened on Sunday.. you call on Thursday and expect the bears will still be alive?

 

[Aimeedyan]

Between this and the Chinese dog massacre, I can't figure out how some human beings can be so careless towards living things. Just blows my mind.

 

[mking624]

OMG, those poor animals. It breaks my heart to see something killed for only doing what its instincts tell him to do. I can't even put into words what I'm thinking about that family....

 

[PixiePop]

It breaks my heart that these poor animals were put to death. I agree, that IF it were my child he would be getting the shots as well.