People Breaking the Rules at Zoos

MonkeyBat

MonkeyBat

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
I got this idea while looking at a thread @Sarus Crane created about a recent event where a visitor climbed on a roof at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo to get a picture of a snow leopard. here's the thread Man Approaches Snow Leopard At Cleveland Zoo

Does anyone have some examples of people breaking the rules at zoos? Crossing barriers or pestering the animals? I know there was that one guy who smacked the rear of a hippo in Los Angeles a few years ago, and I believe there was a woman who climbed into the lion exhibit at Bronx for some reason?
 
Sorry if anyone came before I edited this thread, I accidentally posted a link to another thread on here. My apologizes.
 
MonkeyBat said:
I got this idea while looking at a thread @Sarus Crane created about a recent event where a visitor climbed on a roof at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo to get a picture of a snow leopard. here's the thread Man Approaches Snow Leopard At Cleveland Zoo

Does anyone have some examples of people breaking the rules at zoos? Crossing barriers or pestering the animals? I know there was that one guy who smacked the rear of a hippo in Los Angeles a few years ago, and I believe there was a woman who climbed into the lion exhibit at Bronx for some reason?
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The only thing I have ever seen was some guy at Chester throwing a tangerine at the camels.
 
Mattaki said:
The only thing I have ever seen was some guy at Chester throwing a tangerine at the camels.
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Interesting experience. I would like to add though these don't have to be eye witness events, but can just be people breaking the rules in general that you find.
 
In terms of crossing barriers I think a lot of photographers have to lean over fences in front of bird and mammal mesh cages in order to focus camera lenses between the bars for unobstructed photos. Or using flash in nocturnal houses and aquariums, etc. Although I did read a study concluding that flash does not harm fish.
 
When Carson Springs Wildlife had their open house in April 2017 I remember seeing what looked to be 5-10-year-olds go through the steel cable fence of Henry the Indian Rhino's enclosure and proceeded for about 15 feet before their parents saw them and yelled at them to come back. Thankfully Henry was far away in his barn sleeping. Also, I remember seeing a few people taunting Wilbur & Winnie the Warthogs, making them react aggressively and charge the fence.
 
Last time I was at Ochsner Park Zoo, I kid jumped in with the African Spurred Tortoise and picked it up and moved it because he thought it was stuck. I didn't see it happen but I heard other talking about it. This was about a week after someone got bitten by a goat there, because they thought it was a good idea to go past the fence.
 
MonkeyBat said:
Shhhh.... we don't speak of that
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He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named will always be known, but not mentioned (even though I made this response.)
I know there was that one guy who smacked the rear of a hippo
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I think that guy should have gotten the one thing that hippos are known for that comes out the rear end where he hit it.
 
One of my favorite videos concerning this issue. These female elephants at Copenhagen Zoo are smart enough to "guide" the idiot back to the guest area:

Also here's another crazy one:
 
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DaLilFishie said:
People using flash in aquariums. Probably not the worst thing really but it annoys me.
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That is the worst. Do you know why flash is banned in aquariums? Some species, such as Spotted Ratfish die if exposed to a sudden flash of light. Flash doesn't help in an aquarium anyway, all you get is reflection off the glass, so I'm not sure why people attempt it anyway.
 
birdsandbats said:
That is the worst. Do you know why flash is banned in aquariums? Some species, such as Spotted Ratfish die if exposed to a sudden flash of light. Flash doesn't help in an aquarium anyway, all you get is reflection off the glass, so I'm not sure why people attempt it anyway.
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As a photographer, I would never use a flash in any inside enclosures, whether it's an aquarium or reptile house. As you say, all it does, is reflects on the glass. However I am guilty of resting my rubber lens hood on the glass to minimize reflection and get a decent shot. I hope that that doesn't interfere with the exhibits, and so far I haven't been asked not to do it by a keeper. It's not a good idea to do that now of course, with Covid still apparent.
 
birdsandbats said:
That is the worst. Do you know why flash is banned in aquariums? Some species, such as Spotted Ratfish die if exposed to a sudden flash of light. Flash doesn't help in an aquarium anyway, all you get is reflection off the glass, so I'm not sure why people attempt it anyway.
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Do you have evidence that fish can die if exposed to flash photography? I did some research and the following papers suggest otherwise (at least for the species they studied).

Also, nocturnal houses are often impossible to photograph without flash, unless they use a red or a blue light in the exhibit. To avoid using flash, a lot of my nocturnal species photos in my database are tinged with a red light. Although I have been told that some zoos’ nocturnal houses turn on the lights shortly prior to the zoo closing, so that’s the optimal time for photography.

https://phys.org/news/2018-10-fish-undisturbed-photography.html
Behavioural and pathomorphological impacts of flash photography on benthic fishes | Scientific Reports
 
RatioTile said:
Do you have evidence that fish can die if exposed to flash photography? I did some research and the following papers suggest otherwise (at least for the species they studied).

Also, nocturnal houses are often impossible to photograph without flash, unless they use a red or a blue light in the exhibit. To avoid using flash, a lot of my nocturnal species photos in my database are tinged with a red light. Although I have been told that some zoos’ nocturnal houses turn on the lights shortly prior to the zoo closing, so that’s the optimal time for photography.

https://phys.org/news/2018-10-fish-undisturbed-photography.html
Behavioural and pathomorphological impacts of flash photography on benthic fishes | Scientific Reports
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The info comes from a sign at Shedd.
 
RatioTile said:
Do you have evidence that fish can die if exposed to flash photography? I did some research and the following papers suggest otherwise (at least for the species they studied).

Also, nocturnal houses are often impossible to photograph without flash, unless they use a red or a blue light in the exhibit. To avoid using flash, a lot of my nocturnal species photos in my database are tinged with a red light. Although I have been told that some zoos’ nocturnal houses turn on the lights shortly prior to the zoo closing, so that’s the optimal time for photography.

https://phys.org/news/2018-10-fish-undisturbed-photography.html
Behavioural and pathomorphological impacts of flash photography on benthic fishes | Scientific Reports
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Thanks for that article, it makes me feel a little less bad about turning my camera off to save battery, and forgetting that turning it off makes it go back to default settings, and default setting for flash is on and accidentally using flash in aquariums. A lot of the time I realise at the last moment and I'm able to cover it with by hand.
 
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