Does anyone else here root for the animals that retaliate to stupid people?

[TravelingChris]

So the story today on Yahoo is about some male student who scaled a 2 meter fence and jumped into the panda enclosure because he thought the panda was cute and he wanted a hug. The panda proceeded to bite him on the legs and arms. I never have any sympathy for the morons who either approach wild animals or climb into enclosures with such. I have plenty of sympathy for people who are attacked by rabid animals, loose dogs, jumping stingrays, and such like. But my sympathy ends at the point of the person's utter disregard of safety or abject stupidity.

[LaxMom]

Uh, yeah. I think the 2m fence sends a clear signal. Alas, mastery of the obvious does not seem to currently be in vogue.

[Titus.Two.Five]

:iagree:

[JFSinIL]

Yeah - we had a foolish woman try and bond with a WOLF at the Lincoln Park Zoo a few years back - the wolf had to be shoot to save her. IDIOT!!! And wasn't there an incident in California with a tiger being baited...???

[Carol in Cal.]

In the San Francisco zoo a tiger leaped out of her enclosure and killed a man and mauled one or two others. (There were three in the group, but I don't recall whether they were all injured or just two of them.)

 

The men may have been teasing at her, although I have been to that zoo and it's not at all clear to me how they would have gotten her attention as there is a physical barrier, a vertical downwall leading into a large dry moat, and then behind that a grassy area where the tiger almost always hangs out. It is a long way back to where the tiger is from the fence. But there is no evidence to suggest that the men were entering the enclosure or anything stupid like that. It was in December, and so even though it was only about 5 PM it was already getting pretty dark out. There were very few people still around as it was more or less closing time.

 

No one could have predicted that that tiger would be able to jump out of her enclosure--it was appalling that that could have happened at all. Later on investigation it was found that the wall height did not meet industry standards, but it has been like that for at least 40 years, and no inspection (there had been a recent one) had caught it.

 

No question those guys were obnoxious, given their histories and one of them having been arrested subsequently for petty theft, but no way should that tiger have been able to get out onto a public thoroughfare and attack people.

[Ria]

ANyone stupid enough to think that a wild panda - sitting happily in his fenced enclosure - would like to be hugged deserves to be bitten, IMO. The guy probably needs a little mental help as well.

 

Ria

[camibami]

I usually root for the animals, too. The people who go off and "live with the bears" or "bond with the wolves" or "have tigers in their family" and come to nasty ends get very little sympathy here. I mean, its a WILD animal. That's what they *do*. A little too much of whatever the word is for attributing human emotions to animals ( I forgot it!) going on, and it ends badly, usually for the poor animal, too.

[I talk to the trees]

Yep. I have to agree with you. Um, folks, the big fences they put around the animals at the the zoo? They do that for a reason!

 

But I thought you were going to mention the fact that Barney (the first dog,) bit a reporter a couple of weeks ago. I have watched the video, and I say the reporter deserved the bite! If I was 13 inches tall, and a hand approached me in that manner, without warning, I'd bite it too! And I'd probably do more than give him a warning snap, which is all little Barney did.

 

So, yes, I guess I do side with the animals!

 

-Robin

[newbie]

I side w/animals. Most of the time they are working out of instinct unless rabid.

 

These zoo events are from taunting the animals. Unless something has escaped and went on wild feeding frenzy, which I have not heard of.

 

If people are stupid enough to play w/fire they are going to get burned.

[kewb]

Yes, I find myself rooting for the animals. These people win the Darwin award.

[Ohio12]

That has to be one of the most unique thread titles the board has ever seen!

[KJB]

I don't know how many times I've watched, in person or on television, some stupid human getting "dangerously close" to a wild animal.

 

In Florida, you can go to alligator farms and watch alligator shows followed by photo ops where people place their small snack size children on the backs of alligators with their mouths taped shut (the gator's mouths, not the children's lol) for pictures. Ummmm....does anyone think it might be a bad idea to get their toddler used to the idea that sitting on the back of a living dangerous creature is OK? Not to mention, the strain on the animal (psychological and physical both).

 

I am sickened by all of the television shows that (in the name of nature preservation) show glitzy star types exploiting wild animals. They wrestle crocs, tease tigers, stare down snakes, stick their heads in the mouths of lions and all kinds of insane death defying (usually) antics. Personifying nature, or sparring with it for ratings, is nothing short of arrogant. And getting people to think it's OK to pet an alligator (so long as someone with duct tape was there first) only encourages people to forget that wild animals deserve and should be treated with respect and caution.

[Cricket]

I'm with you if the person was trying to hurt the animal. But wanting to give a panda a hug? I want to do that too! :) They do look very cute and cuddly. But I'm not stupid enough to actually do it. If someone was taunting an animal, grabbing at them or hurting them, then yeah, I'd be rooting for the animal.

 

Too many people have lived away from wild animals for so long that the no longer remember what they are like. I've been close to a wild bear cub and a very large moose and that was close enough to any wild animal for me! Even those little cubs are dangerous. My FIL has the scar to prove it. One little swipe and his hand was sliced open. With the moose I was just trying to get her picture but she kept turning around and pawing the ground at me. It finally dawned on me that there was no way I could outrun that thing and she was awfully big!

[Mommyof4ks]

Yep, I live in an area that is overpopulated with deer that cannot be hunted, and well there are crazy people out here who feed them out of their hands. Naturally if a person or some noise scares these deer they attack the person standing there, and then the people get mad at the animals. Good grief, they are wild animals people!

 

What makes me so mad is when I drive by and people are letting their kids feed them or touch them. We have had several kids get seriously hurt because of this. Our dog was attacked in our front yard in the spring unprovoked (she's fine now), so it is dangerous to get close to them. Seriously, leave the animals alone!

[Anne]

A few years ago, a tourist climbed over two safety fences to get into the polar bears' enclosure. She had all kinds of injuries. Binky (the polar bear) carried one of her shoes around for several days. It generated all kinds of publicity. I remember that there was a shirt that said something like, "send more tourists - that one got away". :D

 

A couple of months after that incident, a drunk teenager was mauled by the same bear - I can't remember whether he climbed into the cage too or just climbed the first fence and got too close.

 

We also have idiots who feed the moose up here. One year an older person was trampled to death by a moose that was being fed by some local neighbors.

 

Just unbelievably idiotic behavior...

 

Anne

[Audrey]

So the story today on Yahoo is about some male student who scaled a 2 meter fence and jumped into the panda enclosure because he thought the panda was cute and he wanted a hug. The panda proceeded to bite him on the legs and arms. I never have any sympathy for the morons who either approach wild animals or climb into enclosures with such. I have plenty of sympathy for people who are attacked by rabid animals, loose dogs, jumping stingrays, and such like. But my sympathy ends at the point of the person's utter disregard of safety or abject stupidity.

 

 

Yes. I despise hunting and every time I hear about a hunter getting the cr*p kicked out of them by a buck who thought they smelled too tempting, I cheer. And laugh. I don't think they can really complain either. I figure it's more "sporting" if what you're hunting fights back.

[pqr]

OK, true story with no dates, names locations or even species to protect....oh well to protect somebody (the woman is still alive). I was in the country where this happened, and know some of those tangentially involved.

 

A few decades ago, in a foreign country, a single Western woman rescued a baby male primate and kept it as a pet. Well.... babies do what babies do and grow up. After a few years she had a very large and powerful primate living in the house with her.

 

Time passes and said single woman finds a boyfriend. Single woman and boyfriend do what couples sometimes do.

 

While doing what couples sometimes do in walks the "pet". Either from jealously (no there was nothing perverted here) or thinking that the woman was being attacked, the primate pulls the boyfriend off the woman and then proceeds to pull limbs off boyfriend starting with his arms (no, boyfriend does not survive).

 

I was not rooting for the animal, but sometimes one must ask what was she thinking.

 

Motto: Wild animals belong in the wild OR Lock the Door (no wait-the lock wouldn't have stopped this one).

[bumbledeb]

But shouldn't the people get some sympathy just for being that stupid?

[BeachGirl]

I agree that many people do not use common sense around animals. It is a shame that animals are often hurt because of the actions of the human race.

 

Carol in CA, I was at the San Francisco Zoo right before the tiger attack. My ex may have been one of the last people who saw Tatiana (Tiger) alive. He went to say goodbye to the lions and tigers. Frankly, my dd and I had had enough of him by then and didn't go with him. The three kids that got injured were harrassing the giraffes earlier in the afternoon that I witnessed. The kid that died tried to hit on my dd and she blew him off. She didn't appreciate the way they were currently harrassing the penguins. She also witnessed them being mean to other animals also. I have to admit, when I heard of the attack, I immediately thought of those three young men. I am sorry one drunk, high young man died but the ones who lived don't want to take responsibility for their actions. My ex said the tiger was calm and laying down when he saw them before we left. That means that the men taunted the animal. They found shoe prints on the railing surrounding the pen. While the wall was too short, it had never been a problem before. I think the animal was taunted beyond reason and had to find a way to get to her tormentor.

[Laura Corin]

Our local zoo used to offer photo opportunities where you could sit next to a fully grown tiger. It was the tiger that they used for circus-style shows, so it was tame. Until the day it wasn't and a girl died. The keepers were hitting the beast with chairs but it wouldn't let go. It's a killing machine and they had it sitting next to little children for photos.

 

Laura

[Carol in Cal.]

Carol in CA, I was at the San Francisco Zoo right before the tiger attack. My ex may have been one of the last people who saw Tatiana (Tiger) alive. He went to say goodbye to the lions and tigers. Frankly, my dd and I had had enough of him by then and didn't go with him. The three kids that got injured were harrassing the giraffes earlier in the afternoon that I witnessed. The kid that died tried to hit on my dd and she blew him off. She didn't appreciate the way they were currently harrassing the penguins. She also witnessed them being mean to other animals also. I have to admit, when I heard of the attack, I immediately thought of those three young men. I am sorry one drunk, high young man died but the ones who lived don't want to take responsibility for their actions. My ex said the tiger was calm and laying down when he saw them before we left. That means that the men taunted the animal. They found shoe prints on the railing surrounding the pen. While the wall was too short, it had never been a problem before. I think the animal was taunted beyond reason and had to find a way to get to her tormentor.

 

I hope that you and your ex came forward with this information. I have been watching for evidence, and although there were allegations of harassment, and as I said before, these guys are clearly pretty obnoxious, nothing as strong as what you have written here today has been in the papers in San Jose. Since I grew up in San Francisco and know the zoo quite well, I have followed this story pretty closely.

 

Having said that, I still think that although these guys are clearly bad actors, the tiger should never have been able to escape from her enclosure. That's just not reasonable at all.

[Carol in Cal.]

I remember visiting a small zoo for movie and TV actor animals when I was about 13, and feeding a fig newton to a bear, mouth to mouth, as a photo op. I didn't want to, but that's just what people did there. What could they have been thinking?

[Jenny in Atl]

Heck ya! "Man" is arrogant beast, and I personally enjoy hearing when the animal kingdom gets a least one shot in every so often.

[Heather in Neverland]

OK, I'll admit it, I feel the same way when a bull "gets" a matador. :leaving:

[Laura in VA]

Yep. :)