SC causes death of entire family of Meerkats

[Crosshair]

Should the Zoo, in order to better "protect" any patron determined to touch the WILD animals, without proper supervision of parents, post guards at the corners of each exhibit? Welcome to the Zoo! One adult ticket? That will be $55! And then the "parents" would be upset that the guards dare discipline their pweciouses for still trying to get too close to the exhibits. No, thanks.

I say we just use electric fences, and not the crappy "Keep the rabbits out of your garden" type units. I'm talking about a Cattle grade charger, something in the 10-20 joule range should do it, hooked up to heavy gauge wire. Something enough to make DARN sure they won't do it again. To keep the energy costs down only have it at max charge during the busy times.

[Barefootgirl]

I hope the zoo will seek to recover the cost of the euthanised meerkats from this woman. PLEASE don't tell me she is going to be able to walk away scot-free from this? People that thoughtless and selfish don't respond to normal decency, so the only way to really affect them is to hit them in the pocket.

PS. A meerkat? Rabid? Seriously? Give me a break....

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

If she was, say, 3 or 4, I'd have to agree with you. But I think by age 9, she was old enough to know better.

and even if she wasn't old enough to know better I still place the blame on the parent who didn't want her precious spawnling to get pricked. So your child would have been crying and walking funny for a short time...Big [censored]ing deal! Those Meerkats are dead forever, the Zoo has to try to get another group of meerkats into a family unit (a process that could take a while), they now have an empty cage (the one where the spare meerkats were kept), there are children who miss thier meerkats...the list could go on.

The problems that her daughter getting the shots would have prevented would have been FAR less than what the zoo had to deal with

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Sorry, but there's really heaps that a zoo can do to stop people actually being able to get near certain animals. In the case of meerkats, I suspect the demand from the public is to see them in a 'reachable' situation because they're seen as cute and cuddly, like Timon. Zoos cave (or lack the funding to properly protect every animal's enclosure) and this sort of thing happens.

I'm sorry to have to disagree here, but if CS.com has taught us one thing, it's that when you make something idiot proof, God makes better idiots.

I have read news articles where a person climbed ofer the driftwood barier, climbed over a 10 foot rock wall, jumped into and then out of the moat, just to stick thier arm into the enclosure (fenced above as well as around) to pet the tiger.

Short of Concertina wire, minefield, auto-tracking guns, and an ED-209 screaming "You are too close to the animals. Leave now. You have 20 seconds to comply.", you'll never stop people from doing that.

And frankly something like that isn't really all that family friendly and would creep me out.

[Canadian In Maine]

Absolutely sickening.

And I will echo the thoughts of some others here: it must have taken quite some time for this kid to breach the barriers...where was the mother this whole time?

I'd make the parents pay for the rebuilding of the enclosure.

[BunnyJas]

After thinking a bit, I wonder if this girl was told what would happen if she didn't get the shots. If her parents were concerned about her getting some pain from needles, then I'm sure they didn't tell her that her decision caused a family of cute little Timones to be killed. Of course, what kind of "parents" would allow their 9-year old to make this decision? I hope these idiots were sent the bill for the euthanazion and another bill for setting up a new family of meerkats.

I also don't see how the zoo was at fault. They seemed to have had all the proper barriers and when children or idiots are determined they will find a way to get through them. The blame sorely rests on these idiot parents and a bit on this girl who at 9-years old should have known better.

[gypsywitch84]

Just because someone is a kid, shouldn't excuse stupid behaivor. Being a child shouldn't get you off the hook for being stupid. When I was nine, if I had done that, shots (and I HATE shots, I broke my arm a few years ago and asked someone in the ambulence if I was going to need a shot) shots would have been the least of my worrys. My dad would probably never bring me to a zoo again.

I think the child and her "mother" (she's not a "real" mother) should have to witness the death of the cute animals. Also, the zoo should put a flyer with the "mother" and child pictures on the meercat habitat saying "due to the actions of (insert full names) the meercat habitat is currently empty. "

[LostMyMind]

I still don't understand why the meerkats had to be killed. The family had a choice to get rabies shots or not. The zoo shouldn't be required to "test" for rabies on the meerkats because the shots were turn down.

Sounds to me, the zoo should have just told the family. Hey, it's your choice. I suggest you get that kid rabies shots. Otherwise you won't know until she starts foaming.

[chainedbarista]

The 9 year old and the mother should be banned from the zoo.

let's include anything involving animals; the heck with these two, save the animals they're endangering!

yes, there is a blood test that can be done for rabies; they do this all the time when shipping pets to places like hawaii and guam to shorten quarantine time.

instead of destroying them, i'm wondering why it was necessary to destroy animals (outside of the bite) that were already vaccinated and clearly healthy. stupidity isn't a justification for destroying animals; they should have been quarrantined and observed, rather than destroyed.

stupid mother should be sterilized; not responsible enough to be a parent but responsible enough to demand that animals die for her lack of parenting skills? hell no.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Several years ago I was badly bitten by my cat. This was a cat that stayed indoors at all times. Well, long story short, she fell out of a window, freaked out, and had to be rescued by me. I ended up getting bitten and had to go to a doc-in-the box to get patched up and shot full of antibiotics. (To say I got bitten is an understatement, so that's why all the hoopla.)

Anyway, in SC, if you are bitten by an animal, it's just like a gun shot. The doctor must report it by law (had I known all the crap that awaited me, I would NEVER had gone to the doctor and instead just took my chances. I was worried about infection, NOT rabies. And I needed a tetanus shot. Not a huge deal. ).

Well, the amount of hassling I received from DHEC was un freaking believable. The were going on and on about rabies risk. The cat was outside for a couple hours, which were spent cowering under my shed. Her shots were up to date. She did not have rabies, for crying out loud. Yet, I had to hear all sorts of doomsaying and hysteria. You'd have thought I'd been mauled by a swarm of bats, a gang of roaming racoons and a staggering feral dog or two. I flat out refused to take the shots and I flat out refused to have the cat tested.

So get this. They sent a dude in a lab coat out to my place every day for a week or so to peer into my windows and make sure the cat wasn't foaming at the mouth or whatever. They did this with my permission, but still.

I wish I'd just told them a stray bit me. I am pretty sure as an adult I can refuse treatment. Then would would they done? Don't think they could've done much in a case like that.

[chainedbarista]

that's actually standard; even with proof of vaccination, they do a ten day quarantine to 'ensure' the animal is free of the disease. i had to do this when i worked at a clinic; the ideal situation is for the animal control dept. to quarrantine the animal on site for ten days, then release/destroy, depending on findings. if the animal is a stray/wandering loose (but has an owner) and a rabies vaccination cannot be verified, in most states, the animal control dept. has the option of euthanasia without owner consent. (a strong argument for keeping up those vaccinations!!)

but that's what doesn't make sense; the animals had current vaccinations, so a quarantine should have been more than sufficient.

that woman should be fined and banned for this bit of stupidity.

[Kelly Lynne]

That's completely stupid on the mom's part. And a nine-year-old is old enough to know that you don't go petting strange animals, especially at the zoo.

The zoo should not only ban the mother and kid for life, but send them a bill for the euthanasia, and the cost of five new meerkats. Oh, and call child protective services on the mother who totally ignored her kid long enough to let her scale the barriers and stick her hand in the cage, and *then* didn't want her to have painful shots that might save her life. Because if by some strange chance, the animals had been rabid, delaying the shots until that was found out can't have been a good thing for the kid.

[NightAngel]

that's actually standard; even with proof of vaccination, they do a ten day quarantine to 'ensure' the animal is free of the disease.

Yep, it is.
One day, back when my Lady- Girl was still with us, a mean little kid was chasing my son. He was screaming threats and I know if he had caught him he'd have beat him up.
What happened next was so fast I couldn't do anything about it:

My son ran in the front door and slammed it in the other kids face thinking home=sanctuary.
The kid throws open the door and runs into the house screaming like a banshee- sees my son- runs at him fist drawn back.
Lady jumps in the middle barking and growling.
Kid turns and runs out of the house- pulling the door shut behind him.
Lady is too fast and makes it through the door before it shuts.
Kid is chased down hallway. Winds up with a 'wound' on the back of his leg.
I call Lady back in and she comes immediately.

I call the police to report this kid coming into MY home completely uninvited with the intent of causing physical injury to my son.

The other kids parents call the police and tell them that their poor innocent baby was "bit" by the big, mean, rabid dog that lives across the hall.

Animal control and the police show up on my doorstep about a half an hour later. Lady is taken for a 10 day observation even though I have all the paperwork to prove she's had all her shots.

I wasn't even allowed to file a complaint against the neighbor kid.

I was allowed to see the kid's "bite". It was a tiny little scratch. I said, "That looks more like a claw mark than a bite." The animal control person got huffy with me and said, "I know a bite when I see one!"

Then after I got Lady back from the 10 day observation I had to take her to the vet for a "psychological evaluation" to prove she wasn't mean-crazy-dog-from-Hell to the landlords.

The child was NEVER repremanded for what he did. In fact he was severely coddled. I would have simply been happy to have heard someone tell him, "What you did was wrong also."

[RecoveringKinkoid]

If some kid came into your house uninvited to attack your child, and the cops refused to file a report, I think a lawyer probably should have been called. You house essentially got broken into, and you son menaced inside his home. Your dog was defending your son and your home.

In my case, they wanted to bring the cat in to observe her and I told them there would be a better chance of them winning a lottery. On planet Pluto. So I gave them permission to visit me as often as they liked, as long as they didnt' disturb me or the cat. I even told them what room she liked the best and left the curtains and blinds open for them. But had they started making noise about taking her with them, both she and I would have disappeared for a while. Or the cat would have mysteriously "R-U-N-O-F-T." I'll only put up with so much intrusion, especially since I was only humoring them. Really, there was no reason for it. They can't force treatment on me, so I'm not sure why bother going through the motions.

[Kelly Lynne]

If some kid came into your house uninvited to attack your child, and the cops refused to file a report, I think a lawyer probably should have been called. You house essentially got broken into, and you son menaced inside his home. Your dog was defending your son and your home.

Exactly...that doesn't deserve a 10-day quarantine. That deserves a pat on the head, a "Good girl!" and a couple doggie treats. I also agree that there's no excuse for not filing a report when the kid trespasses with the intent to harm your child.

I'm sorry, once someone breaks into a house (or even walks through an open door when it's clear that they intend to do someone harm), anything done by the owner of the property, kids, or dogs should be chalked up as their just desserts. I was under the impression that you were allowed to shoot intruders into your house in self-defense...the dog should be permitted to act in self-defense or defense of her owner as well.