Canadutch
On the afternoon of May 18th, one of the gorillas at the zoo I went to last month here in Rotterdam escaped from his enclosure and went on a bit of a rampage. He somehow managed to scale the wall of his enclosure, climb out, leap across a 4 meter moat and get out into the public.
The gorilla, Bokito, had also escaped from the zoo he was in previously to this one… so people are up in arms that there weren’t more precautions made to stop him from escaping again.
A few people were injured, one woman especially who was bitten more than 100 times and dragged for several meters. She’s still in hospital with serious wounds and her husband is already talking about lawsuits. Another couple is suing the zoo as well, claiming that their children have been traumatized, aren’t able to sleep and are having panic attacks.
I wonder what I would do if I was in that situation. I think if I went to the zoo and was mauled by an escaped gorilla my instinct would be to sue. I mean that’s not exactly what I’d have in mind when going there and it’s up to the zoo to make sure that the people who visit are kept safe.
I have to wonder what people expect when visiting the zoo and what they expect from the animals. If you look at this photo of Bokito in his enclosure, does anyone really think he has a happy life behind that glass watching people stare, make faces, take pics and sometimes even taunt him?
I mean… seriously!
It said on the news that the woman who was attacked was a regular at the zoo. She’d been told repeatedly by workers to not make eye contact with the gorilla because it’s seen as a sign of aggression. Yet she repeatedly stared and tried to make a connection with Bokito through the glass. This was even caught on their security video.
Is it a coincidence that Bokito attacked her in particular? It wouldn’t seem so. The woman habitually disregarded the warnings of the zoo staff and in a sense put herself in the dangerous situation.
Ok sure, he shouldn’t have escaped in the first place… but there has to be a certain level of respect for these animals as well because they are wild animals by nature and they shouldn’t be taunted or challenged simply because they are behind glass.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the zoo. It’s the only place I can go to see all these animals I’d never get a chance to see otherwise… but I feel sorry for the animals at the same time.
I can’t help but feel like this woman had it coming to her.
I am with you. The last time I went to the zoo I started to cry because the baby gorllias just looked so sad. I like the zoo in a way, but I always feel so bad for the animals. Having said that I should be able to visit without the fear of some animal attacking me, yet if I am going to enclose a wild animal and then take advantage of that to ignore the zoo keepers and not respect the animal, well what do you really expect.
I think saying she may have had it coming is a lil harsh. Say that when a hairy pissed off primate is gnawing on you :P
If they don’t want people to make eye contact and don’t want such close, possibly provoking behaviour to take place then don’t put him in an enclosure that’s akin to a glass prison so people can be nose to nose with him. Not to mention, one he could escape from. They’re liable, no question about it. I’d be curious to know how they got him and some of their other animals. Zoos are cruel IMO and some of them get their animals through poaching. It’s a huge business in some parts of the world.
I have the same mixed feelings…it’s wonderful to be able to see animals that I would otherwise never see, except maybe on television or in the movies. The zoo lets you see wildlife close up.
But, on the other hand, it is unsettling because God did not intend for animals to live caged lives. Humans and animals were created with an inate desire to live free.
I visited a wildlife park in South Dakota once and was excited to see a bald eagle. It’s the American National symbol, the bald eagle. It was so sad to see the eagle perched on top of a tree stump, tied to it in fact. He sat there looking all “majestic” with a rope around his ankle so that he could not fly. I understand that it had been injured or something, because I don’t think one can keep a bald eagle, but that sight made me think about the animals.
I also remember visiting a park up in Traverse City, MI. There were buffallo penned up. A wooden fence surrounded them as they walked around an area covered in sand. The sign on the outside of the fence informed the onlooker that “these are grassland animals”. There was no grass in sight. Poor things.
I have mixed feelings on zoos and keeping animals captive.
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Perhaps if they’re stressing how important it is not to make eye contact with the gorillas, they shouldn’t make it so easy to get right in the animal’s face like that. I wonder how much crap that gorilla puts up with on a daily basis from people staring through that glass.
Not only does he not look happy, he looks like he’s pissed and planning to break out. How did this surprise anybody, with that said?