Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden What's Gnu at the Cincinnati Zoo - 2016

An accident would be someone slipping and falling over a barricade into the exhibit – this child was heard warning his mother more than 4 times that he was going to "go swimming with the gorilla". This was anything but a tragic accident - it was gross neglect by a parent.

If your child says he wants to play in the street, you don't ignore him - you take your responsibility as a parent seriously. In 38 years, there's never been an incident like this, the zoo made the only decision they could, and the boy is alive and well because of their difficult choice made quickly in a moment of escalating pressure. The only tragedy is that they were forced to make this decision at all.

Somewhere along the way, responsibility has to be taken.
 
The zoo is totally at fault in this one. The zoo is bound by law to protect the public and building an enclosure which is not childproof leaves the zoo open to litigation - fact. The director must take full responsibility. The child managed to endanger his life by finding a loophole in what should have been 100% secure. Sorry zoo lovers, a beautiful innocent animal was destroyed for this reason and this only highlights how dangerous zoos are to people and captives.
 
Actually, depending on how this goes to court, no. There is precedence that both strict liability and negligence on the zoo's part can be waived by the courts when children sneak into cages or enclosures. Add in the reports that the child repeatedly "warned" the mother that he was going to enter the enclosure just adds to the zoo's defense. Pile on top of this the fact that the zoo has operated for 38 years without a similar situation ever occurring and this points in an altogether different direction.

The court will apply a negligence standard to the zoo, look at the specific structure involved as well as the zoo's previous operating history, and then take into account first hand testimony of the people there at the time. Strict liability will (and has in the past) be waived, and with the first hand reports and history of the zoo, general negligence will be waived as well. Even an attractive nuisance claim will be thrown out, based on the witness testimony.

If we were talking about a 16-year old silverback male gorilla that climbed out of his enclosure and attacked someone – different story.

Taking this to court may actually expose the mother to litigation.
 
One piece of good news out of the whole gorilla tragedy... apparently the family of the boy has stated they will not be suing. I for one am shocked. Furthermore any donations that people have been trying to direct the boy's way the family has asked be donated to the zoo instead. It wont bring Harambe back but maybe the donations can be used to cover the costs of improving the railings at the exhibit because we all know they will have to do something.

Family will not sue Cincinnati zoo over child-gorilla incident | Reuters
 
They are also gonna start donating more money for wild gorillas annually than they have been donating in past years
 
Good to hear. As much as I'm frustrated by the "it was just an accident" crowd — and I think the family would actually be opened up to a countersuit if they went after the zoo — it sounds like the family is approaching the whole situation in as level-headed of a way as they can.
 
Yes, you often hear children wishing they could climb in with animals - however it is the responsibility of the zoo to make sure that this cannot happen under any circumstance. The zoo is totally responsible for the killing of this beautiful animal - and they know it.
 
Wandowen said:
Yes, you often hear children wishing they could climb in with animals - however it is the responsibility of the zoo to make sure that this cannot happen under any circumstance. The zoo is totally responsible for the killing of this beautiful animal - and they know it.
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The zoo, actually, no zoo is anyone's parent. They have a particular set of guidelines to prevent such accidents and not only do they expect people to follow them but they expect visitors to have common sense. Saying this is 100% the zoo's fault is saying all of the employees need to take the responsibility to watch someone else's child at all timesm. Based on how the zoo has shown it's attitude towards the situation, clearly they know they're not at fault at all here. 38 years that exhibit has been there and even the eccentric juvenile gorillas have learned immediately not to put themselves in a situation where they can fall. 38 years and not one accident. I don't particularly "know" Thane Maynard (I have spoken to him before in person and have watched every single video he created) but I can easily tell that if the zoo was at fault here completely then he would've admitted it. He said in his press conference that he doesn't like to point fingers, clearly acting modest but it's obvious that he believes that the parents are at fault. In fact, the zoo already just spent money on re-announcing the plans for the newly renovated gorilla exhibit. The plans include an indoor close up viewing along with an elevated observation deck overlooking the outdoor yard. Knowing my zoo, this will not be changed, especially since the plans were already changed twice. I suppose if you walk into any store, restaurant, etc., and your child slips away from you and they go off to break the rules by breaking something or maybe to steal something... I suppose that's the companies' faults?
 
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I'm going to have to refute this claim that "the zoo is totally responsible for the killing of this beautiful animal - and they know it". They did the right thing in an untenable situation created not by them but another party.

Legally, there have been similar situations in the States where children have snuck into enclosures and the zoos have not been found responsible or negligent. Sometimes the courts have actually found the family in the wrong, opening the zoos up to look into legal recourse — I'm going to guess that's what happened with this family, seeing as they aren't going to sue.
 
The pair of white-faced sakis is now on display in the former black-and-white ruffed lemur exhibit in Jungle Trails. Also now on exhibit in Jungle Trails are the Victoria crowned pigeon, red-tailed cockatoo, and chestnut-breasted malkoha and the blue-billed curassow and pair of scarlet macaws.

Also, Gorilla World will reopen on Tuesday, June 7th. The railings are currently being replaced with those seen in the Africa exhibit.
 
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Does anyone know any information about the bios of the night hunters species? I know there was a list of their names and birthdates but that was from 2013. Also does anyone know any info about the spectacled owls?
 
Kudu21 said:
Today was the Grèvy's zebra stallion's first day back on exhibit.
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Apparently the expansions/renovations were not as extensive as I had heard... A gate was added between the off-exhibit zebra yard and the now former Indian rhinoceros exhibit, and that was it... The zebra stallion is now living in Manjula's yard, pool and all, with two ruddy shelducks... And what is to become of the former zebra yard for right now? The male crested screamer will be moving in the yard sometime soon.

That said, Manjula the Indian rhinoceros is also now on display in Nikki's old yard.

Moe and Twix the Linne's two-toed sloths are back on display in Discovery Forest.

In bird related news, a grey crowned crane was added to the okapi and yellow-backed duiker yard and the Nicobar and pied imperial pigeons, cardinal lory, and magpie and Cape Barren geese have gone on exhibit in the flight cage with the keas.
 
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Kudu21 said:
Moe and Twix the Linne's two-toed sloths are back on display in Discovery Forest.
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Interesting story about said sloths... The zoo brought in the male, Twix, from the Racine Zoo to breed with resident female, Moe. Well, when they put the two of them together, it was discovered that Moe is actually a male and Twix is actually a female! Somehow, both sloths had been misgendered ... So, the pairing still works, but not in the way it had been originally intended!
 
Kudu21 said:
Interesting story about said sloths... The zoo brought in the male, Twix, from the Racine Zoo to breed with resident female, Moe. Well, when they put the two of them together, it was discovered that Moe is actually a male and Twix is actually a female! Somehow, both sloths had been misgendered ... So, the pairing still works, but not in the way it had been originally intended!
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Ha, thats great and their names still work even with the gender switch.:p Did they ever witness a mating? All I ever heard was they had a rocky start but got use to each other.
 
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Kudu21 said:
Interesting story about said sloths... The zoo brought in the male, Twix, from the Racine Zoo to breed with resident female, Moe. Well, when they put the two of them together, it was discovered that Moe is actually a male and Twix is actually a female! Somehow, both sloths had been misgendered ... So, the pairing still works, but not in the way it had been originally intended!
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Hee hee, that's funny!
 
Updates!

Our two female ring-tailed lemurs, Janet and Valerie, have left for the Naples Zoo; we are looking to receive new females soon with breeding recommendations with our male.

The white-faced saki pair has been observed mating already, so there are hopes for babies in the near future!

The Siberian lynx passed away last month. This is the first time in 40 years that the zoo has not had a lynx in its collection.

One of our female black-footed cats has moved to the San Diego Zoo, and we are expecting to receive another female soon.

The male bat-eared fox on exhibit in Night Hunters has moved to the Africa interpretive collection. The bat-eared fox exhibit is currently being renovated for the banded palm civet.

The former banded palm civet exhibit will now be home to screaming hairy armadillos.

The three-legged female fishing cat has gone on exhibit.

The sloth exhibit is looking to be expanded further.

The koi are currently being moved out of the stream behind Treetops because the giant salamanders will be moving there shortly! (I am unsure of the species because at one time we had both Chinese and Japanese).

The grey crowned crane currently in the okapi/duiker yard will be moving to the former zebra yard.

The male red panda passed away recently, and the two females are off-exhibit because it is believed that they are both pregnant! A new red panda should be on exhibit by early July.
 
If the salamander plans on being shown for actual display unlike the Koi, I don't see how guests will be able to access that path.
 
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