Como Park Zoo and Conservatory why are the general zoo-going public so stupid?

Chlidonias

Chlidonias

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Police: Adult put boy in cougar exhibit at Como Zoo; cat injured child - TwinCities.com
A man lifted a young child into the Como Park Zoo's cougar exhibit, apparently to take a picture, and the large cat scratched the boy, witnesses reported, according to police.

Details about the weekend incident were murky Monday because adult and child left the St. Paul zoo before zoo staff arrived, and the information was based on witness accounts to staff, said Sgt. Paul Schnell, police spokesman.

Police are trying to find the pair to make sure the child got treatment for any injuries he sustained.

It happened Saturday about 5:45 p.m. A man, who police presume is the child's father, lifted the child "up and over a barrier around the cougar exhibit at the Como Zoo," Schnell said.

The child was described as between 2 and 5 years old, Schnell said. The man set the child down in front of a tall mesh fence.

"When he did that, apparently to take a picture, the cougar pushed through the mesh and scratched the child and possibly the dad when he tried to take him out," Schnell said.

Witnesses said the boy had "puncture/scratch type wounds," but the seriousness wasn't known, Schnell said. The man told witnesses he'd be taking the child for medical treatment, Schnell said.

Asked if the adult could be arrested or charged, Schnell said, "Those are absolutely secondary considerations. First and foremost is the health and welfare of the child."

A detailed description of the adult and child wasn't available Monday. Police ask anyone with information to call them at 651-291-1111.

The zoo was "very crowded" Saturday, said Como Park Zoo and Conservatory spokesman Matt Reinartz. He didn't know how many people saw what happened.

There are at least 10 signs in the area of the cougar exhibit that say, "Dangerous area, stay behind guardrail," "Thank you for not climbing," and "Warning: stay back, stay safe," Reinartz said.

"Safety for our visitors and the animals is our number one priority," he said in a statement. "When poor decisions are made, it puts both individuals and the animals at risk."

Como staff inspected the area and will "review safety barrier, signage and mesh to see what or if any additional safety measures should be added to this area," Reinartz said in the statement.

In 1972, a St. Paul man stole into the Como Park Zoo at midnight, fell into a polar bear's pen and was being attacked. A St. Paul police officer shot and killed the bear, and the man survived.

Reinartz said he wasn't aware of any incident like Saturday's in recent memory.
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Don't know. I was at the National Zoo in DC back in 2003. I'd just strolled in. There at the cheetah exhibit, I kid you NOT, was a gentleman in his 30s dangling his toddler son over the rail into the cage. He apparently wasn't trying to put him into the enclosure, just get him a closer look. I was in absolute disbelief of what I was seeing. Two zoo employees rushed over immediately and scolded the man, telling him it was unacceptable. He spoke no English, so he just chuckled and walked away like nothing happened. I never fully processed the potential tragedy I witnessed firsthand that Wednesday afternoon.
 
Last week here in Belgium someone lost the top of his finger because he decided to pet a Spotted Hyena. In my view a deserved consequence :).
 
Good question, but I guess nobody could really answer

Wasn't there a japanese couple in a (brazilian?) Safari Park, leaving their car to get closer to the lions/tigers for a better picture and finally got eaten - also because they could not enter their car quick enough, because they have locked it after leaving?

The stupidest experience I had with "general zoo-goers" was in Rome, Italy.
A men - obviously an Italian - teased a black panther thru the cage with an umbrella. I guess he would impress his 5 year old son with that. He was laughing more and more as more the panther got angry.
What a coward! What would he have done, if someone had open the cage...?
 
@Meagan: Was that question to me or to groundskeeper24.

If it belongs to my stories: For the japanese in the safari park, I don't know what is happen with the big cats after that "accident". In Rome, there were no consequences for the panther because - luckily - no blood is flowing...
 
What is even worse, I think there have been a couple instances where the stupid public, after being attacked by an animal due to their own fault, actually sued the zoo!!! I believe (perhaps Ituri can confirm this) this happened at the Phoenix Zoo when I child climbed the barrier to the puma exhibit.

Recently a child climbed the telephone-pole railing to one of my zoo's lion barriers and went right up to the wire cage. Fortunately, the child was not hurt this time, but as a result we now have an ugly chain link fence covering that whole viewing area. This is supposed to be temporary, until they can plant something in the dirt area to keep people out, but it has been like that for several months now.
 
Arizona Docent said:
What is even worse, I think there have been a couple instances where the stupid public, after being attacked by an animal due to their own fault, actually sued the zoo!!! I believe (perhaps Ituri can confirm this) this happened at the Phoenix Zoo when I child climbed the barrier to the puma exhibit.

Recently a child climbed the telephone-pole railing to one of my zoo's lion barriers and went right up to the wire cage. Fortunately, the child was not hurt this time, but as a result we now have an ugly chain link fence covering that whole viewing area. This is supposed to be temporary, until they can plant something in the dirt area to keep people out, but it has been like that for several months now.
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I don't recall if the zoo was sued or not, but the child was participating on an eagle scout project around the backside of the puma exhibit and he got too close to the off-exhibit quarters and Camille grabbed him. At least that's how I recall it being presented in the local papers. Apologies if my facts are wrong.
 
zoomaniac said:
@Meagan: Was that question to me or to groundskeeper24.

If it belongs to my stories: For the japanese in the safari park, I don't know what is happen with the big cats after that "accident". In Rome, there were no consequences for the panther because - luckily - no blood is flowing...
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Oh, to no one here. Just a shoutout to the idiot who did this. I'm just reminded of some meerkats in a zoo which were put down for biting a kid that stuck her fingers in their enclosure :(
 
the father that put the boy over the safety railing at the cougar cage has come forward, and the boy didn't need any medical treatment. This article also notes (at the bottom) the meerkat incident that Meaghan mentions
Are Parents Being Careful Enough At The Zoo? - wcco.com
The man whose 2-year-old son was scratched by a cougar at Como Zoo on Saturday came forward Tuesday. He showed zoo officials proof he took his son to the hospital. Zoo officials turned that proof over to the police.

According to the St. Paul Police Department, the boy sustained only superficial injuries and didn't need stitches or significant medical treatment.

Witnesses said the dad lifted his son up over a barrier. The cougar apparently grabbed and scratched the boy through the wire mesh fence before his dad could pull him away.

Both Police and Child Protective Services are investigating the incident as a child maltreatment/endangerment matter.

A WCCO news crew went to Como Zoo Tuesday to check if parents were being careful.

"Well, we have plenty of signs such as this one warning, 'Stay Back, Stay Safe.' This one right here, 'Dangerous area, stay behind the guard.' We have this railing and underneath this, we have this fence. So folks can't get underneath and up against here," said Matt Reinartz, a zoo spokesperson pointing out all the safety measures. "So there is plenty of barriers to keep a safe distance between our animals and our guests."

"I just saw on the news last night, there was a lady setting her kid up over the 20-foot drop to the tiger cage, like set her on the rail, like 'Here, look down,'" said Katie Ellis, a zoo visitor.

"I just say it's disappointing when people do things like that because it could cost our ability to see animals like that in the future," said Tricia Ellis, sister of Katie Ellis.

"That's what I thought, I said, you shouldn't have put your kid that close to the cat," said Sara Tuma, a Como Zoo Visitor.

Tuma said that, but she may have bent the rules at 'Seal Island' when she set her child on the guard rail.

"Just so they can get a better view. It's hard for the little kids for them to actually see the animals," she said.

"I might lift her up to this guard rail, but certainly not to that one," said Katie Ellis, pointing to one of the cat cage.

It's a judgment call. How close is too close?

April Brown was warned to step back.

"Initially, I was a little put off about it, but the more I thought about it, if it means the safety of my child, then I need to make sure that he's safe," said Brown. "So, as much as I may have acted like I didn't appreciate it, I do appreciate it."

You might remember what happened at the Minnesota Zoo a few years ago.

A 9-year-old girl reached up over a glass barrier and was bit by a meerkat. Since her parents didn't want her to endure rabies shots, the five meerkats were killed and tested for rabies.
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Article above said:
A 9-year-old girl reached up over a glass barrier and was bit by a meerkat. Since her parents didn't want her to endure rabies shots, the five meerkats were killed and tested for rabies.
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Five Meerkats destroyed rather than give some some snotty kid an inoculation? Obscene. Tell the kid to shut up and deal with it.

Sorry but that just strikes me as completely ridiculous.
 
Maguari said:
Five Meerkats destroyed rather than give some some snotty kid an inoculation? Obscene. Tell the kid to shut up and deal with it.

Sorry but that just strikes me as completely ridiculous.
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I agree entirely, I find it quite upsetting that they were killed just for being animals doing what is natural to them.

I really hate zoo visitors! And not just the chavvy ones, the pushy middle class ones are just as bad!
 
i think there is a storyon ZC saying about a man who had a rock thrown @ him by an elephant, the zoo begged him not to sue, and all he asked for was free Zoo anual passes for him and his family, while ironicly on the same day a man was trying to steel from a vending machine, got his arm trapped and tryed to sue the zo for thousands of $$$

Another story (not really Zoo related but set in a zoo lol ;):D) was about a man, (i beilive from the far east, China, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong S.A.R etc) who was at Edinburgh Zoo (Keyword Edinburgh-In Scotland ;)) and said, Why are there so Many Scottish people in England?

lol
 
I think, most people doing such stuipd things belive,that all animals which a re living in zoos are gentle and tame, also big cats,bears, apes...

Many years ago, a womanlost her arm in vienna zoo. She was visiting almost every day a male lion and she belived,"He knows me". So one day, she climbed across the barrier and tried to touch him...

Another good story is the story of two Kindergarten Nannies with a group of children at Munich Zoo. Both women were talking and smoking,and in the meantime, just a few meters away,several kids climbed across the barrier of the tiger exhibit. Then they went to the edge of the water ditch and started to throw stones after the tigers. Both tigers were waiting in their exhibit for a kid fall into the water, but it has not happend, in the time I was at the exhibit.

I know hundreds of similar stories, but this is one of my favourites.

.
 
Tarsius said:
Many years ago, a womanlost her arm in vienna zoo. She was visiting almost every day a male lion and she belived,"He knows me". So one day, she climbed across the barrier and tried to touch him...
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I have known keepers to make that same mistake... to their regret
 
It's not just the general public. People who visit and think they know individuals get on everyone's nerves. Going round pointing out who's who is one of the most irritating things I've EVER experienced in a zoo.
 
I never understand litter. When visitors are given food in say a cup, they have to leave it empty in the middle of the path or right next to a bin! It seems people are just so lazy they cant be bothered to walk those extra steps to a bin.
 
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