West Midland Safari and Leisure Park Woman closes car window on giraffes head.

Not been for a while, but they did sell deer food at Longleat last time I went, you could feed them through open car windows.
Colchester used to do elephant feeding sessions too, once again not been for a while
 
When I visited Longleat a couple of years ago you could feed the giraffes (out of the car) and deer.
 
I visited today and also had a run in with a giraffe, but I didn't close the window on it... It stole the food and dropped it on top of the car, then chased us (T-rex style ;)) down the road. All of this was done in full view of the staff in a Land Rover, so they're watching the giraffes, just not acting when they do something dangerous. :p
 
PaleoMatt said:
No way this is real. That is crazy!
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As an ex keeper at a safari park I can assure you...stuff like this is not unusual at all. I've seen people dangle babies out of windows near the lions, a father who insisted a keeper get out in the lion enclosure to retrieve his daughters iphone, customers get out of cars with selfie sticks, people get their kids out to go to the loo.
I had a customer actually tell me that it was ok for them to have their window open because lions only eat meat...I was like..and what exactly do you think humans are made of?
I had a customer in another zoo I worked in climb over the safety barrier and stick her fingers into the jaguar enclosure to try and stroke it because "back in my home country people are allowed to stroke the big cats and it was safe."
 
Abarai said:
As an ex keeper at a safari park I can assure you...stuff like this is not unusual at all. I've seen people dangle babies out of windows near the lions, a father who insisted a keeper get out in the lion enclosure to retrieve his daughters iphone, customers get out of cars with selfie sticks, people get their kids out to go to the loo.
I had a customer actually tell me that it was ok for them to have their window open because lions only eat meat...I was like..and what exactly do you think humans are made of?
I had a customer in another zoo I worked in climb over the safety barrier and stick her fingers into the jaguar enclosure to try and stroke it because "back in my home country people are allowed to stroke the big cats and it was safe."
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I guess the moral of the story is, never underestimate how stupid people are. Also that one about meat is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, how are people so stupid?
 
On the rare occasions when I visit the WMSP when it is very busy, we play a sort of bingo: someone with their window open in the lion enclosure, someone letting their toddler drive the car, someone trying to feed something inappropriate, etc.
 
When I am round Safari Parks I always think of an old saying from Albert Einstein -

I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction.
The world will have a generation of idiots.

How true this is today.
 
PaleoMatt said:
I guess the moral of the story is, never underestimate how stupid people are. Also that one about meat is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, how are people so stupid?
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Aye but in fairness at school that's what they were taught. Plus if you're in the UK there is no natural predator in the wild to fear. Because there's no reason to learn people grow up not really respecting the fact that humans are meat and food to some animals. It's totally nuts and logically doesn't make sense, but for many of these people they've never before been in a situation where they have to think through that line of thinking. Until they are in the zoo with the lion and someone is saying "hey have you actually thought about this!"


What's even trickier is teaching people that herbivores will eat meat or that fishmeal is often a staple component of feed products. Ergo the idea that a cow or deer will consume something that isn't grass (then again there's some people who don't even work out that animals can eat grasses - I've heard from some conservation sites about having people demand the horses (often konik) get fed hay when they are standing in a reedbed)
 
overread said:
Aye but in fairness at school that's what they were taught. Plus if you're in the UK there is no natural predator in the wild to fear. Because there's no reason to learn people grow up not really respecting the fact that humans are meat and food to some animals.
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Only the really stupid people have not grasped that fact...
 
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