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AIBU?

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Original poster

What the fuck is wrong with people these days?

123 replies

Soubriquet · 21/05/2018 17:00

A 12 year old boy stuck his hands through the bars and when a meerkat bit him, he killed her. The meerkat was pregnant at the time.

Why has his parents not taught him to keep their hands out of enclosures? Or not killing?

Where was his parents when he decided to do that?

I don't agree with him receiving death threats as some people are saying but I bloody hope he gets a good bollocking

OP posts:
FreeMantle · 21/05/2018 17:35

He threw it to the ground as a reaction to the bite.

It's sad that a 12 year old doesn't know meerkat is not some cute fluff ball but a creature capable of attacking if provoked.

Branleuse · 21/05/2018 17:41

get it in perspective, hes 12. If something bites you, instinct kicks in. I completely freaked out when my mates ferret bit my finger when i was about 17 and was hanging off my finger, i flung it off. It didnt die luckily.

There should have been better barriers in place to protect both animals and humans. That poor child has been getting death threats

user838383 · 21/05/2018 17:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

sweeneytoddsrazor · 21/05/2018 17:44

t's sad that a 12 year old doesn't know meerkat is not some cute fluff ball but a creature capable of attacking if provoked.

Well that is probably because of the way they are portrayed, although I have no idea if Alexander Sergei and Oleg are big in Hungary. Many years back my father was in hospital and in the next bed was a teenage boy who had his hand bitten off by a crocodile in the zoo when he somehow accessed their enclosure to pet him.

GorgeousJaws · 21/05/2018 17:44

Little arsehole.

Death threats are OTT though.

LighthouseSouth · 21/05/2018 17:49

we seem to be moving further and further towards idiocracy

I don't know where the blame is but what a horrendous thing

at 12, you have to wonder if he did it on purpose in terms of trying to create an incident, thought it was fun to upset an animal etc.

maxthemartian · 21/05/2018 17:49

I disagree that it's instinct if an animal is biting you, anyway.

A friends (very beloved) parrot went for me. It sank it's beak into my finger down to the bone. It was tiny and I would probably have really injured it if I'd freaked out so I forced myself to remain calm and just shouted at her to come and take it.

And a ferret bit me quite badly and hung on (which was a horrible feeling) and I just sort of waited it out to stop.

IsMyUserNameRubbish · 21/05/2018 17:50

Little fucker! It's like standing in the middle of a motorway and being surprised when hit by a car. I hope he, or his mum, are prosecuted. Animal torture is one of the most sickening acts on this planet, I despair of it I really do.

Pengggwn · 21/05/2018 17:52

Being bitten by a pet and by a wild animal are not the same. Instinct would kick in for most people in the latter situation mainly because of disease. You'd want to get the meerkat off you, and I think jerking the arm hard is exactly what most people would do. Imagine it wasn't a meerkat but a rat, then think what you would do if it bit you and wouldn't get off.

He was an idiot to touch it, but I can't blame him for reacting without concern for the meerkat. He's only 12.

Juiceylucy09 · 21/05/2018 17:52

I really do not know but whatever is happening for such an increase in violence.

Two young lady's have been murdered here in Dublin in a couple of days, the first was aged 14 sexual assault and stoned to death with bricks. The 2nd drag from the street by a random man in daylight on Saturday her body found today.

It feels like a horrible place full of evil sometimes.

siwel123 · 21/05/2018 17:54

@Max. You remained calm not everyone does.

Yes it is sad the meerkats died as they're lovely amazing creatures but a frightened kid panicked and reacted to protect himself it seems. Yes he was dumb for putting his hand in the enclosure however the zoo shouldn't have open enclosures that kids could stick hands through, as if a 12 year old can get his hand in so can a younger kid who may suffer worse injury.

Death threats are over the top and the people who send them to a 12 year old are worse then him

crunchymint · 21/05/2018 17:57

At 8 I was bitten by a horse at a park for kids. I did not hit the horse. My mum blamed me for poking my arm through the fence where the horse was.
So yes I do think the 12 year old is to blame. But death threats are totally OTT.

Furano · 21/05/2018 18:00

My friends DP killed her kitten by slamming it into the wall. Sick, violent, murderous man. She was too scare to go to the police but at least did leave him :-(

Thewhale2903 · 21/05/2018 18:00

It doesn't sound like he deliberate killed the animal he reacted to the bite. Agreed though that there needs to be more control over children in these situations but at 12 he can read a sign.

supersop60 · 21/05/2018 18:01

Nasty little shit. No sympathy.

crunchymint · 21/05/2018 18:02

No 12 year old kids do not need to be very closely supervised. Or should not need to be. At 12 he was old enough to know better.

FortyFeet · 21/05/2018 18:03

Zoos are awful

siwel123 · 21/05/2018 18:03

No sympathy people ate threatening to Jill a 12 year old Wow?

crunchymint · 21/05/2018 18:04

The boy shook the meerkat so hard he broke its back.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44171884

KarmaStar · 21/05/2018 18:04

Little bastard.I'd swing him around by his tailAngry

pieceofpurplesky · 21/05/2018 18:04

I once watched a family throwing stones at a fish in a harbour - then they were amazed it died.
Parts of the everyday human race terrify me.

Uniquack · 21/05/2018 18:06

When I was at school in Namibia we had a meerkat as a pet. They're lovely, sociable and very funny. However - they do not like being touched very much, even tame ones. There is a reason they have warning signs on fences - kids should obey them! I have no sympathy for this little brat.

Thewhale2903 · 21/05/2018 18:06

Yes I agree no wild animals should be kept in cages. Strange thing is if this meerkat hadn't been killed then nothing would have happened to it yet when a child tries to touch a dog in the street withought permission or if they stuck their hand through a fence and a do attacked or bit them the dog wpuld be put to sleep!

Original poster
Soubriquet · 21/05/2018 18:08

Attitudes have changed regarding children.

Years ago, if a dog bit a child, the question usually was "what did you do to the dog" and if replied with "I pulled its tail" they would have been told serves you right.

Now it's everyone else's fault except the person involved

I'm not saying kids deserve to bitten but I'm saying that animals react just like people when threatened and/or in pain

OP posts:
Pengggwn · 21/05/2018 18:09

No one is saying the child didn't (possibly) deserve to get nipped, OP. But death threats are so far beyond rational that it shouldn't need pointing out.