Are Zoo’s preventing accidents such as Harambe from happening? What protocols are they taking?
Source: Youtube
Next time you go to zoo how would you feel if you had to watch a 20 minute safety video before entering the park? Zoo’s cannot rely on people to know the safety precautions even though most people consider them to be common sense. What should zoos be doing to prevent situations such as the Harambe Incident?
A CNN article titled, “The basic -- but often ignored -- rules of zoo safety” pointed out what zoos have and are doing to prevent and it’s effectiveness or lack thereof. The author Sandee LaMotte is the executive producer of CNN social first online committee and values opinionated articles as well as concrete research and using writing to deliver the facts. I assume she wrote this in response to recent increased interest in zoo safety and prevention of incidents, this article is relevant and this article has the most recent incidents and also dates back, being published in the year 2016. She includes great videos (taken by people who took a trip to the zoo) that display the points she discusses. Zoo’s aren’t doing enough to inform them of the risks and ways to avoid bad situations. Zoos are indirectly informing people of precautions to take and that is where they went wrong, they are not necessarily at fault for incidents that occur but they should do more to prevent them.
A CNN article titled, “The basic -- but often ignored -- rules of zoo safety” pointed out what zoos have and are doing to prevent and it’s effectiveness or lack thereof. The author Sandee LaMotte is the executive producer of CNN social first online committee and values opinionated articles as well as concrete research and using writing to deliver the facts. I assume she wrote this in response to recent increased interest in zoo safety and prevention of incidents, this article is relevant and this article has the most recent incidents and also dates back, being published in the year 2016. She includes great videos (taken by people who took a trip to the zoo) that display the points she discusses. Zoo’s aren’t doing enough to inform them of the risks and ways to avoid bad situations. Zoos are indirectly informing people of precautions to take and that is where they went wrong, they are not necessarily at fault for incidents that occur but they should do more to prevent them.
Zoos claim to provide proper safety information in a way that is obvious and visible to the public. The author points out that people already know these rules and simply choose not to follow them resulting in possible harm of themselves or people around them. Well in my opinion even if the zoo has presented the rules and people choose not to follow, they should enforce them cause after all they are for their safety. Okay, if you are lost on what these rules are that’s about to change.
Some rules are to not tease the animals, don’t dangle for a better angle, say no to photos, and to teach respect. These are the rules that the zoos publish on their websites and other hard to view places. These rules are set to prevent situations for example, “another family was not so lucky. Elizabeth Derkosh lifted 2-year-old Maddox to the top of a 4-foot wall for a better view of the African painted dogs at the Pittsburgh Zoo. Maddox fell backward into the enclosure and was mauled to death by the dogs.The family sued the zoo, citing internal safety committee documents that discussed other parents "dangling children" into the exhibit and claiming that the zoo should have acted sooner. The zoo countered, claiming the mother was at fault. The case was settled in 2014; the African dogs were relocated to other zoos.” These accidents wouldn’t happen if there were guards or watchmen at each exhibit just monitoring the activity and stopping the dangling before it went too far. Although the article doesn’t vocalize it, I strongly believe zoos should do more to increase protection.
Some rules are to not tease the animals, don’t dangle for a better angle, say no to photos, and to teach respect. These are the rules that the zoos publish on their websites and other hard to view places. These rules are set to prevent situations for example, “another family was not so lucky. Elizabeth Derkosh lifted 2-year-old Maddox to the top of a 4-foot wall for a better view of the African painted dogs at the Pittsburgh Zoo. Maddox fell backward into the enclosure and was mauled to death by the dogs.The family sued the zoo, citing internal safety committee documents that discussed other parents "dangling children" into the exhibit and claiming that the zoo should have acted sooner. The zoo countered, claiming the mother was at fault. The case was settled in 2014; the African dogs were relocated to other zoos.” These accidents wouldn’t happen if there were guards or watchmen at each exhibit just monitoring the activity and stopping the dangling before it went too far. Although the article doesn’t vocalize it, I strongly believe zoos should do more to increase protection.
Another view the article takes is that regardless of what the zoo does parents need to take it in into their own hands to educate and keep their children safe. Zoo’s claim they provide the assumed “common sense information” to the parents visiting the zoo with their children but when the parents don’t read it that’s out of their control. Zoos do their part “And even with the best of safety features in place, things can go wrong. In April 1994, a cheetah at the Jackson, Mississippi, zoo scaled a fence and attacked an 8-year-old boy who had been teasing the animal. Luckily, the child suffered only minor cuts and bruises. It's best, experts say, to teach children to respect animals and their habitats.” This leaves the zoo as more of a hassle because it makes parents feel pressured to watch their kids more than they often would because of all the responsibility on them and prevent chaotic situations. The author proves that legally zoos are doing enough to help but ethically I believe they are lacking. Why not make it extremely safe… better safe than sorry right?
Next blog post I would like to look into the question of: What more can zoo’s do to appeal or make animals more comfortable? If spreading safety information is such a an issue then why not start at the root of the issue? Animals acting out. These animals are in captivity against their will so maybe there are other ways of containing the animals that will make them less likely to act out.
