To think it's unfair to blame the mother of child hurt by gorilla?

[pinkladyapple]

Yes if she was holding his hand maybe he wouldn't have ended up in the enclosure. But he could have gone over/through the fence in a split second. And the zoo should have fencing which makes this impossible, surely?

The parents aren't being prosecuted for negligence and yet the Internet seem angry at the mother.

But then the people who think that also seem to think a tranquilliser works instantly, and the gorilla wouldn't react to the pain or impact of the dart.

It's sad and terrible though. For everyone.

Bottle, I don't know the parents. There could be special needs at play, they could be brilliant, hands on, and the boy had one off day and behaved totally out of character - just don't know.

BUT

Most children I know - even the shockingly behaved ones - wouldn't try to get into a zoo enclosure! They just wouldn't. It does seem to hint towards a lack of boundaries and a lack of understanding that you just can't do some stuff. And this is a Reception aged child, not one just walking where it's understandable that this might happen.

It does rather sound to me that the child just couldn't comprehend that he couldn't do something, did it anyway, then boom, dead gorilla.

I think that's how it's been perceived by most people, anyway. Perhaps it is unfair, but as I say - I have known many bratty badly behaved children, but I cannot think of one that would push its way into a gorilla enclosure!

Small children run off all the time. I think almost all parents have had the worry of taking their eyes off their child for a second only to turn back to find they're gone.

Thankfully most of the time the child is found quickly and hadn't come to harm. But occasionally the child ends up in the road and is killed by a car. Or they fall into a swimming pool and drown. Or they're seen by a stranger who abducts them. Or they get electrocuted on train tracks. Or they end up in a cage with a dangerous animals.

These things are the stuff of nightmares but they could happen to any parent. I would say it is mostly luck which means one parent can lose their child and find them safely distracted by something nearby and another can lose their child and find their child in a dangerous/ deadly situation which they're powerless or too late to stop.

I'm just thankful in this situation it wasn't too late to save the child.

I get what you mean wet.

Is that so Mrsfrumble?

So then I wonder why every other fucking 4 year old, barely out of toddlerhood, hasn't gone in with the lovely furry friends?

Not one?

Out of thousands of fucking 4 year olds? Probably millions?

Maybe they heard NO and knew what it meant! :)

Or it could have been a majorly unlucky off day. But this isn't standard four year old behaviour, people. Otherwise this wouldn't be such massive news, would it?

I'd be inclined to think most four year olds would be rather intimidated by an enormous gorilla. I certainly never lost my sense of awe at being in such close proximity to wild animals.

But I'd guess the gorilla has totally captured this child's imagination and at four he's to immature to understand the dangers. Maybe they read a book about a big, friendly gorilla at kindergarten the week before and he associates it now as being just that.

You should probably not read "the tiger that came to tea" just before a trip to the zoo.

I think it's extremely unusual behaviour from a 4 yo. Bizarre in fact. He didn't just run off.
Surely his mother would tell him - no you can't go in there they will kill you?! The reports say he was asking to go in right?
I honestly think this is a parenting issue.

*
It's not the first time this zoo has had incidents hapoen

Sorry but I think this is important

Don't cage up a gorilla in a zoo and then no child is in danger. Why do these animals need to be locked up?!!

It's a totally reasonable expectation that your child can't get into the enclosure though, surely?

I'm pretty sure at some point one of my four have expressed a desire to get in with the lions and give them a hug. I'd laugh it off safe in the knowledge they couldn't get in if they tried. I don't think I'd be giving talks on the dangers of such an action

Well you could say that to attribute blame to a parent in any tragic accident.

It's your fault - most toddlers never choke so you must have been feeding him the wrong foods.

It's your fault - most babies don't die of SIDS, you must have not been following the correct sleeping guidelines.

It's your fault - most kids don't chase their ball into the road so it's your fault he got knocked down and killed.

It's your fault - most children don't die of influenza so you must not have sought medical treatment quickly enough.

It was a freak accident which needed a specific set of circumstances (poorly fenced enclosure, parent distracted for a second, child wanting a closer look, drop disguised by hedge, crowd very noisy, gorilla unable to be tempted away from child etc) to happen. Just because that exact set of circumstances never occurred before doesn't automatically mean anyone is at fault. Does someone always have to be to blame for anything? Can't it just be one of those unlucky situations where a number of factors which normally wouldn't have dire consequences all worked together to create a horrible unforeseen situation? That's what it seems like to me anyway, no one specifically is to blame, it's just unfortunate all those things came together to cause a situation leading to the gorilla's death and very fortunate people were able to intervene before the child was also killed.

Mini, for conservation.

Whether you agree with the need for that is another matter.

:) indeed!

However again, parenting does come into it.

We have a yearly membership to a farm - mostly horses, but many species of British wildlife, chickens and ducks roam free, pigs, otters, peacocks - nothing massively special but lovely place.

And as I said above I have a two year old and of course they want to touch and grab and maul.

But at the farm I see some shocking behaviour. Kids grabbing chickens, chasing them, banging on the glass, going to stroke a horse then squealing so it frightens them.

The fact it is unintentional misses the point. My two year old understand 'chasing a chicken frightens her and makes her feel upset. We walk nicely up to the chicken and say hello, Mrs Chicken'. So for all the 'he's a baby' posts, four year olds can and presumably do, understand, 'stay out of the gorilla pit.'

Honestly, we don't know enough about the case. I'm just uneasy about referring to such a young child as a "brat" and suggesting that "most people" would value the gorilla's life above his based on this assumption.

Teach your child that zoos are wrong

If you read one of the earlier links posted the zoo in question was already under investigation for other animals escaping.

One of the Polar bears escaped and one of the staff came face to face with it, just 30ft away in a corridor.

So it's easy to say, thousands of other children visited and didn't go in to the gorilla enclosure so it must have been bad parenting, but actually from what I've read about the zoo it's been pure luck no one has been killed, especially with the polar bear incident.

It will eat you! Rip you limb from limb until you are meat paste!

The kid would be pegging it out of the place like greased lightning

Bears have no place is zoos.

A Turkey attacked me in a zoo when I was three. True story.

I always get attacked by something. Usually a bird.

At the Weymouth Sea Life Centre a fecking sting ray leapt out of the water at me.

I think this particular incident was an accident. I am definitely not a perfect parent; I've lost mine at various times, it happens. Of course it does.

Children tend to misjudge cars very easily - so do adults occasionally - and of course if you don't drive yourself you don't always understand the nuances of road use. A stranger can smile and offer you a sweet and he knows your mummy anyway - because he said so.

But boundaries are there for a reason and whether someone CAN get through them isn't always or indeed often the point.

A horse can kill a four year old, easily. They are gentle animals as a rule and wouldn't mean to - they'd have to kick him in the head, but it could happen if a child ran up to a horse screaming and the horse turned suddenly and kicked out as they bolted, or if the horse was tied up. A bull certainly could kill a four year old, as could a cow - again in theory anyway.

Water can kill children easily. Very easily.

Yet these don't have iron bars separating them from the children of the world. A fence at most, sometimes even just a post and some rope, and some common sense and good manners and respect for things that aren't yours.

I understand why things happened as they did. We can't stand back and watch children be killed by large mammals.

It's still a damn shame though.

I did actually cause outrage on the farm amongst the chicken community by tripping over one (by mistake, obviously.)

You would not believe the CLUCKING that followed. Every chicken in the place was OUTRAGED!

I'm a mum to a 6 year old and she has visited the Zoo many times from the age of around 3 and let me tell you she knows what a Zoo is as she learnt this in nursery and reception.
In fact her first school trip in reception was to London Zoo.
She would never ask to play with the animals in the Zoo.
She knows she should not approach a dog without asking permission first never mind a Gorilla.
Something seems very strange to me and YES the parent is to blame, the mother didn't know where the boy was until he was next to the gorilla.

The mother knew where he was before he was in the enclosure, but they couldn't reach him.

Yes well chickens are practically little old women. I've got four

Although I bravely overcame my fear of turkeys.

Sting Ray