A News Item That Have Affected Me
This Morn
Lucy and I went
to the Cleveland Zoo the day before yesterday and I would like to talk about it
as it is as pertinent this morning as any day. Overall we had a great time. There
was a lot of walking and by the time we covered most of the territory the zoo
encompasses, I would suggest that anyone contemplating a visit there to be sure
and make it there by opening time, and plan on spending the whole day. It opens
at 10 o clock in the morning and closes at 5 o clock in the evening, and there
is more than enough to be learned that it will take all that time to casually
make your way around the zoo grounds.
One of the main
exhibits I wanted to see is the western lowland gorilla exhibits. My last visit
to the zoo was one of honorable mention in my life and especially the gorilla
exhibit. How this is related to the news item affecting me, is that I have
heard where a 4 year old boy had wandered to the edge of a gorilla exhibit in Cincinnati,
Ohio and dropped 10 feet into a gorilla exhibit and was grabbed by the male
gorilla there and was dragged off. The wild animal response team found it
necessary in the heat of the moment, to kill the male gorilla and rescue the
child.
It was a wise move
to do exactly that, and what makes me mad is that it all could have been easily
avoided. Number one way it could be avoided is for parents to watch your kids. Especially
a 4 year old, usually there is a buffer area between the fence and where
visitors are allowed to get at their closest. I doubt if Cincinnati Zoo is any
different. Still the parent was not paying much attention to let their kid ever
get close enough to the edge of the pen, so he could have fallen into the pen
with the gorilla. A ten foot fall by itself would be bad enough for a 4 year
old. Let alone being swept up by the gorilla and dragged off. What is with
these parents? You are in a zoo with one of the most dangerous animals there,
and you can’t take extra effort of all times to watch your kid. Come on.
My second
fault is with the zoo itself, and it has to do with my personal experience as
well when I viewed the gorillas’ years ago, as compared to the other day when I
visited the zoo. The new zoo enclosure since they have remodeled is much larger
and has more features that allow you to view the gorillas much easier. The fences
are a good 20 feet high and I am sure there are electric wires keeping them in
their enclosure. Also you view the gorillas from a looking up position putting
you as a spectator below the pen height. There is no area to view them from the
top of the pen as compared to what Cincinnati must have. There is no falling
into the pit. There wasn’t anything like that years ago, instead the last time I
visited the gorilla exhibit years ago, what concerned me most has been
eliminated.
The Cleveland Zoo
of years ago had a viewing area that was located inside a shelter that had
windows made of bullet proof glass that were basically floor to ceiling and
allowed one to fully view the gorillas. This was nice and it allowed up front,
unfettered view of the gorillas. The glass was actually a two way mirror that
reflected their image back to the gorillas. The gorillas could see an image of them
but couldn’t see you. Or at least I thought it was that way till I entered the
shelter. As I entered the enclosure a little girl from behind my family ran
ahead to the window and placed her hands on the window as I entered the
enclosure. As soon as I saw the gorilla he turned and looked at me and just
stared and watched me as I started to cross the room with the foot traffic of
other viewers. As I passed behind the little girl the gorilla, all of a sudden,
jumps up from his seated position and slams himself up against the safety
window directly in front of me, and at that girl, so hard I saw the glass flex
out towards me and it scared the little girl, and as well, me also, with me
thinking he was coming right through that glass. It scared me enough that I suggested
the mom get her girl away from the window. The gorilla backed away but kept his
eyes focused on me as I started to head out, not knowing if he could sense me,
or what was going on but I surely didn’t want to test the limits of the window.
As the mother
grabbed her daughter and I ushered my kids way from the window and out the door,
the gorilla again poised his body to suddenly thrust in my direction again and
suddenly before I was out of the door of the enclosure, he unleashed his energy
and again bounced off the window directly at me as I was another 10 feet away from
where I was last time. He could see more than I thought. And it scared the crap
out of me, as once again I saw the window flex in. Maybe it was my size. Maybe it
was pheromones. Who knows what possessed him to attack, but I figured I wasn’t going
to hang around and find out. That would be one scary situation and I hope it
would be me he was after, instead of some child. The potential for disaster was
there. And I think eventually the Cleveland Zoo must have become aware of that
chance and redesigned their exhibit to include fence he would have to get
through in all viewing areas. Now you can talk to the gorillas through the
fence, and I guess maybe it is because he is older, but I didn’t have any
response like I did when the gorillas were younger. A lot of years have passed
under the bridge since then. Good thing as they have become older, so have I,
and doubt I could kick gorilla butt any better than I could then.
Still the potential
for something like that to happen at the Cleveland Zoo is less likely now, than
it was at Cincinnati Zoo. Still it is very sad to see an animal on the
endangered species to be dispatched in such a way, when it could have been
prevented. If the design of the enclosure wasn’t flawed, and if the parents
would have been watching their kid , maybe this could have been prevented. Failure on both levels lead to a tragic ending
and the child fared no better. My thoughts are with that child as undoubtedly
he can be no more smarter than his parents are, as genetics plays a part in
intelligence, and we know the parents surely must have been shorted in that department.
news article - https://www.yahoo.com/news/cincinnati-gorilla-killed-boy-falls-zoo-enclosure-013416464.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=fb
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