Deviant*Strain
Well-Known Member
^ rubbish ON bins is even worse...
Como Park Zoo and Conservatory why are the general zoo-going public so stupid?
- Thread starter Chlidonias
- Start date
Sun Wukong
Well-Known Member
All this only indicates that a really "foolproof" exhibit design does not exist...
As Tarsius correctly stated, everyone who has ever worked in a zoo knows similar stories. And thanks to youtube, some of these accidents are even on film
[warning: some violance; if moderators seem apt, please feel free to delete links):
In my opinion, there might be several reasons contributing to the lack of commonsense & good manners observed among certain zoo visitors.
1) Lack of basic knowledge about animals and their behaviour, due to a society where direct contact with animals/nature is mostly absent and this deficit is not considered important. Or a society where an animal is regarded inferior and thus treated as an inanimate object...
2) Cruelty: remember "the good old times" when zoo keepers were even encouraged and paid to poke and torture the animals for the sake of "entertainment"? There are still quite a lot of people with that kind of mindset and lust for such "entertainment" around.
The animal in the cage is at the mercy of man. Some small minds (& small men), like the Italian example mentioned above, or the Latino teenagers killed by the tiger at SF zoo, use this to whoop it/themselves up.
3) Ignorance/arrogance: Some people seem to think that paying the entrance fee gives them the freedom to do whatever they want...
4) "My friend, the cuddly Polar Bear": Thanks to "sugar-coated" family-and especially child-orientated zoo PR and movies/ TV shows like "Madagascar" etc., a lot of zoo visitors are misled to think of zoo animals as "domesticated" harmless soft toys that should enjoy their presence and entertain them (after all, they're the paying customers). The result: people walking straight into the lion's den and being surprised & shocked when the lion dares to attack them...
5) The Survival of the Unfittest.
As nicely illustrated in the opening sequence of the movie "Idiocracy", [warning: some swearing & adult themes]
Idiocracy Intro - LiveVideo.com
nowadays it's not the smartest of the society proliferating, but rather the opposite. So it's usually not Mr. "Rocket Scientist" turning his gaggle of underbred kids loose in the zoo and letting them dangle over the tiger's exhibit.
6) The Bad, the Pervert and the Mentally Ill: everyone dealing with animals learns pretty soon that they seem to attract both the best and the worst parts of human society. So it's no wonder that zoos have to deal with all kind of weirdos, perverts or mentally ill individuals whose actions are irreproducible and not foreseeable and put themselves and others in danger.
7) Exhibit design: Modern zoo exhibit designs favour a reduction of visual barriers between man and animal. This might allow better photos and a better "immersion" experience, but can make entering the exhibit much easier and thus also endanger both man and animal. May it be the Orang Utan drowning at Hamburg during the attempts of getting some food thrown into the water moat by a visitor, the mentally ill man climbing into the Brown Bear exhibit at the Berne Bear Park, or the original cougar case...accidents prone to happen.
As Tarsius correctly stated, everyone who has ever worked in a zoo knows similar stories. And thanks to youtube, some of these accidents are even on film
[warning: some violance; if moderators seem apt, please feel free to delete links):
In my opinion, there might be several reasons contributing to the lack of commonsense & good manners observed among certain zoo visitors.
1) Lack of basic knowledge about animals and their behaviour, due to a society where direct contact with animals/nature is mostly absent and this deficit is not considered important. Or a society where an animal is regarded inferior and thus treated as an inanimate object...
2) Cruelty: remember "the good old times" when zoo keepers were even encouraged and paid to poke and torture the animals for the sake of "entertainment"? There are still quite a lot of people with that kind of mindset and lust for such "entertainment" around.
The animal in the cage is at the mercy of man. Some small minds (& small men), like the Italian example mentioned above, or the Latino teenagers killed by the tiger at SF zoo, use this to whoop it/themselves up.
3) Ignorance/arrogance: Some people seem to think that paying the entrance fee gives them the freedom to do whatever they want...
4) "My friend, the cuddly Polar Bear": Thanks to "sugar-coated" family-and especially child-orientated zoo PR and movies/ TV shows like "Madagascar" etc., a lot of zoo visitors are misled to think of zoo animals as "domesticated" harmless soft toys that should enjoy their presence and entertain them (after all, they're the paying customers). The result: people walking straight into the lion's den and being surprised & shocked when the lion dares to attack them...
5) The Survival of the Unfittest.
As nicely illustrated in the opening sequence of the movie "Idiocracy", [warning: some swearing & adult themes]
Idiocracy Intro - LiveVideo.com
nowadays it's not the smartest of the society proliferating, but rather the opposite. So it's usually not Mr. "Rocket Scientist" turning his gaggle of underbred kids loose in the zoo and letting them dangle over the tiger's exhibit.
6) The Bad, the Pervert and the Mentally Ill: everyone dealing with animals learns pretty soon that they seem to attract both the best and the worst parts of human society. So it's no wonder that zoos have to deal with all kind of weirdos, perverts or mentally ill individuals whose actions are irreproducible and not foreseeable and put themselves and others in danger.
7) Exhibit design: Modern zoo exhibit designs favour a reduction of visual barriers between man and animal. This might allow better photos and a better "immersion" experience, but can make entering the exhibit much easier and thus also endanger both man and animal. May it be the Orang Utan drowning at Hamburg during the attempts of getting some food thrown into the water moat by a visitor, the mentally ill man climbing into the Brown Bear exhibit at the Berne Bear Park, or the original cougar case...accidents prone to happen.
Last edited by a moderator: