About the parents of the boy who fell in the gorilla enclosure?

[user1463172942]

Sorry, I know there are other threads about this but I have just been shown the Daily Fail's latest bit of 'reporting' on this.

They have dug up the fact that the boy's father had a drug dealing conviction a decade ago. This is pointed out in a huge headline. About 100 lines later, in tiny print, they note that since then he had been college, held down a normal job, married and had a family. For a DECADE!

They have stalked his Facebook account and say that all the photos are of his wife, kids and work.

They have interviewed a load of randoms blaming the parents and insisting that they categorically KNEW the gorilla would not hurt the boy.

That poor family... For all I know they could be neglectful parents but nothing I have seen or read provides any evidence of this. They were looking after a baby and for all it seems were distracted when the 4 year old fell. I have 3 kids and could easily see how this could happen.

I can't help wondering how different the reaction would have been if it was the child of a middle class white couple ( and I say that as someone who is middle class and white).

I really feel for them. Their little boy will probably be completely traumatised long after he has physically recovered. The whole family will probably suffer as a result of his previous conviction being made public.

YANBU. The DM are some of the scummiest scum at the bottom of the scum bucket.

To be fair the kid had to go through a lot of stuff to get in the enclosure he didn't slip down railings like everyone seems to believe. I'd be more concerned someone could have easily taken him in that time, but I'm furious an endangered animal had to die because they didn't watch him. No they don't deserve abuse over it but an amazing animal has died due to their lack of supervison. I really don't think zoos should be legal anyway so I have a clouded view.

This incident has helped to remind me that many people who identify themselves as animal lovers are actually disgusting human beings.

It clearly lacks class to let your child fall into a gorilla enclosure.

I hate this demonising of the parents :( there are no perfect parents out there, yet my FB is full of people who seem to think they are.

Yanbu.
I am also annoyed at their need to point out Liam Fee's Mothers LESBIAN partner. Ffs.

Kids escape from their parents and go missing for a few moments or more a lot. It's happened to the 'best' and to the 'worst' of us, and that's the point.

If a 4 year old of mine escaped my supervision at a zoo i can honestly say that him or her actually getting into one of the dangerous animals enclosures would not be at the top of my reasons to panic list. It simply shouldn't have been possible.

What on earth has 'class' got to do with anything?

Do only working class people have distracting babies or inquisitive preschoolers?

Did you expect anything more from your newspaper?

As you're a Daily Mail reader, it cant have come as a surprise surely?

I'm NOT a daily mail reader! A colleague has just pointed it out. Hence my saying 'I have just been shown.'

(Mortified at being thought of as a daily mail reader ).

YY to some animal lovers are horrible human beings!

It doesn't really matter if the gorilla didn't look like he was going to hurt the boy, if he wanted to he could have done it in a split second without warning.

It shouldn't have been possible for a child to fall in, I think the responsibility lies with the zoo here.

And for the fathers decade old convictions? Fuck knows what they've got to do with this incident!

At a guess, I'd say roughly 80% of Mumsnet are Daily Mail readers.

At another guess, I'd say roughly 30% actually admit to it

Either way Yanbu

But it's a pretty shit paper, so par for the course really.

I think Worra was completely out of order to accuse the OP of reading the Daily Mail.

I can't think what led her to believe this might be the case.

At any rate, the 'lacking class' comment was not intended seriously.

However, I do feel sorry about the gorilla.

Well I did call it the daily 'fail'.

If I have to look out for subtle sarcasm so should you

He only had to climb up a three feet wall to get through the railings, that's not a lot for some children.

As for the gorilla being "protective", there is footage of him dragging the boy across the concrete and through water by his foot. I don't think the zoo had any choice but to shoot him.

I think the reporting on this is a disgrace. You'd think the parents dropped him in the enclosure for laughs. I saw one meme yesterday of a photo of the gorilla with the caption "I had to die because some bitch couldn't look after her kid". The person who posted it is a mother. I was disgusted.

I'm an animal love, don't eat meat for ethical/compassionate/sentimental reasons, have gone out of my way to help injured wild animals etc but I cannot for one second understand how these poor parents are being vilified. It's a very sad situation but no one is to blame.

The zoo were at fault. The enclosures should be foolproof.

So much vitriol directed mainly towards the mother .

So many perfect people out there who never put a foot wrong. Yet I see imperfections every day. No idea where all these perfect humans live.0, certainly not near me.

Christ.

Yes the dm is crappy and lazy journalism. No need to report on anything other than what happened.

Mother is still totally to blame and she's really not doing herself any favours on her statements to the press. Just apologise for not watching your child properly, seriously.

But nobody alive watches their child at all times.
Nobody at all. Otherwise you would never go to sleep!

Accidents can happen anywhere. Children die in bed.
I have been in many situations where I have questioned in my head the parenting ability of parents. Yet I would like to hope a zoo should be safe.

Bollocks is the mother totally to blame. As parents we all try our best to keep hold of our kids...especially in places where they might face danger.

There is NO WAY that anyone should find themselves accidentally in the enclosure of a wild animal....least of all a FOUR YEAR OLD. The zoo needs to take a good hard look at their health and safety measures. In the same scenario at my local large zoo the most that would have happened is the child would have fallen off a bank onto the pavements...he would NOT have ended up in an enclosure.

Zoos should not have gorillas. It's not conservation and education is not a good enough reason. Money should go to conserving wild habitats.

Then the gorilla wouldn't have been in a position to be shot.

Can't really blame the parents - these things happen.

If the wall he climbed was 3ft high, any of my kids could have climbed that in a second at 4 years old.

If you have a baby in your arms you might not be able to grab them back straight away even if you saw what they were doing straight away.

I can't believe the level of vitro targeted the poor mum.

Should say vitriol. Stupid autocorrect.

I have read this on FB....One of the most sensible things I have read on the subject

" I am going to try to clear up a few things that have been weighing on me about Harambe and the Cinci Zoo since I read the news this afternoon.
I have worked with Gorillas as a zookeeper while in my twenties (before children) and they are my favorite animal (out of dozens) that I have ever worked closely with. I am gonna go ahead and list a few facts, thoughts and opinions for those of you that aren't familiar with the species itself, or how a zoo operates in emergency situations.
Now Gorillas are considered 'gentle giants' at least when compared with their more aggressive cousins the chimpanzee, but a 400+ pound male in his prime is as strong as roughly 10 adult humans. What can you bench press? OK, now multiply that number by ten. An adult male silverback gorilla has one job, to protect his group. He does this by bluffing or intimidating anything that he feels threatened by.
Gorillas are considered a Class 1 mammal, the most dangerous class of mammals in the animal kingdom, again, merely due to their size and strength. They are grouped in with other apes, tigers, lions, bears, etc.
While working in an AZA accredited zoo with Apes, keepers DO NOT work in contact with them. Meaning they do NOT go in with these animals. There is always a welded mesh barrier between the animal and the humans.
In more recent decades, zoos have begun to redesign enclosures, removing all obvious caging and attempting to create a seamless view of the animals for the visitor to enjoy watching animals in a more natural looking habitat. this is great until little children begin falling into exhibits which of course can happen to anyone, especially in a crowded zoo-like setting.
I have watched this video over again, and with the silverback's postering, and tight lips, it's pretty much the stuff of any keeper's nightmares, and I have had MANY while working with them. This job is not for the complacent. Gorillas are kind, curious, and sometimes silly, but they are also very large, very strong animals. I always brought my OCD to work with me. checking and rechecking locks to make sure my animals and I remained separated before entering to clean.
I keep hearing that the Gorilla was trying to protect the boy. I do not find this to be true. Harambe reaches for the boys hands and arms, but only to position the child better for his own displaying purposes.
Males do very elaborate displays when highly agitated, slamming and dragging things about. Typically they would drag large branches, barrels and heavy weighted balls around to make as much noise as possible. Not in an effort to hurt anyone or anything (usually) but just to intimidate. It was clear to me that he was reacting to the screams coming from the gathering crowd.
Harambe was most likely not going to separate himself from that child without seriously hurting him first (again due to mere size and strength, not malicious intent) Why didn't they use treats? well, they attempted to call them off exhibit (which animals hate), the females in the group came in, but Harambe did not. What better treat for a captive animal than a real live kid!
They didn't use Tranquilizers for a few reasons, A. Harambe would've taken too long to become immobilized, and could have really injured the child in the process as the drugs used may not work quickly enough depending on the stress of the situation and the dose B. Harambe would've have drowned in the moat if immobilized in the water, and possibly fallen on the boy trapping him and drowning him as well.
Many zoos have the protocol to call on their expertly trained dart team in the event of an animal escape or in the event that a human is trapped with a dangerous animal. They will evaluate the scene as quickly and as safely as possible, and will make the most informed decision as how they will handle the animal.
I can't point fingers at anyone in this situation, but we need to really evaluate the safety of the animal enclosures from the visitor side. Not impeding that view is a tough one, but their should be no way that someone can find themselves inside of an animal's exhibit.
I know one thing for sure, those keepers lost a beautiful, and I mean gorgeous silverback and friend. I feel their loss with them this week. As educators and conservators of endangered species, all we can do is shine a light on the beauty and majesty of these animals in hopes to spark a love and a need to keep them from vanishing from our planet. Child killers, they are not. It's unfortunate for the conservation of the species, and the loss of revenue a beautiful zoo such as Cinci will lose. tragedy all around. "

I agree. My DS is autistic and until about a year ago (he is 6) he was a complete bolter and was almost incapable of understanding whole sentences in English. So 'Don't run into the road, the car might hit you' was unintelligible to him. So on a previous thread people were saying loftily; 'A 4 year old should be able to be told' Well, my DS at 4 and 5 and at almost 6 would NOT have been able to be told. And he certainly could do a pretty decent duck and run and would easily be able to scale a 3 ft high fence. I found the whole thing a bit scary because I could easily imagine being in a situation where that might well have been us.