SC causes death of entire family of Meerkats

[Tito]

I hope that bitch of a mother & her brat child are both banned from the zoo after that.

[csdrone]

What kind of evil pitiful excuse for a human would teach their kids to be stupid? Was the egg donor expecting to be able to sue?

[air914]

Oh. My. Gosh. And I was already having a bad day with a lack of faith in humanity. This only further enforces my desire for pushing a law that requires everyone to take a test before they have kids- if they don't pass, then they must be sterilized because they are too stupid to raise children. Way to teach your child that all living creatures should be respected you stupid . I know damn well that my parents would have made me get those shots and give me a red bottom to go along with it. After all, it wouldv'e been MY fault if I was dumb enough to put my fingers in a cage full of wild animals. I hope that zoo posts this woman's picture on the walls as a reminder to others not to touch the animals. Normally I don't condone the actions of PETA, but in this case I'd be willing to cheer them on if they decide to egg this womans' house. What further ticks me off is if they would've found rabies in one of those meerkats, then little pwecious would have had to get the shots anyway!

I TOTALLY AGREE - maybe not steralize people - but I've always thought you should have to ahve a license to have children - you have a license to have a gun, you have to show one to drink, you have to have one to drive - why not one for children?? You are NOT allowed to take your child home until you have proven you are a sane, capable person who isnt' going to beat their kids to get them to "shut up" or let them stick their hands in animals cages and then kill all the animals............. if you can't prove your capable - then the babies go up for adoption to capable parents!

[Spiffy McMoron]

I'll go one step further, which hasn't been suggested yet. I'm thinking of poor CRH (hope I've got the right CSer there) and the puppy killing story and I'm thinking - the mother and daughter should have been made to perform the euthanising. Now, I'm not saying it should be allowed to be potentially inhumane because they're inexperienced, but that they should what CRH did - administer the final shot under supervision.

Actually, I believe that it was not CRH that did that, it was in fact Cominatcha.

http://www.customerssuck.com/board/showthread.php?t=676

And when I was nine, I had no issues figuring out when to pet animals and when not to-growing up with a farmer father will do that.

[Mixed Bag]

So this is where everyone's been--the one post that brought disparate members together like none other. And here I thought the OP pretty much summed it up by inference.

The sadness seems so obvious I don't know what to say.

Brain matter is what's tested for rabies

From the meerkats, yes--certainly the mother has none to supply.

the mother and daughter should have been made to perform the euthanising.

Elegantly logical and a fair start. Better than all this beating I'm sorry to hear a number you reporting you'd get, whether you actually would or not. But our enthusiastic response to the article about overprotection doesn't mean we have to go back to hitting--let's invent something new.

Related to our rant against excessive control: glad to see others like old metal and wood things. Makes me want to take the gloves off my old sig: Hey, everyone having those lookalike metal garage doors with fake woodgrain makes you look like you have no confidence in your own taste: same for those blindingly white vinyl windows with fake crossbars that don't look 3-D and concrete roofs trying to look like shakes. At least few people have plastic picket fences so far…but what happened to days when people weren't afraid to pick out their own paint for houses?

Speaking of preservation of fauna and flora, my allegedly environmentally-friendly blue city just cut big trees down because they outgrew the narrow strip between sidewalk and street, causing massive buckling of the former. It's a very quiet street, were I confined to a wheelchair I'd ride in the street rather than want the sidewalk smoothed and the trees gone.

kids are afraid of shots but they also, in general, love animals and wouldn't want one to die.

I think a children's hospital solved the problem of kids taking stuffed animals home by bandaging them and saying they had to remain behind to heal.

If cleverness would help the girl be brave, I'd gladly supply her with an anthem:

Every syringe, each injection, every needle
Haemorrhaging and cramping to beat all
Screaming at the nurses above
All for meerkat lo----o-----ove!

Barbed wire and glass all around? Zoos are trying to make the habitat as natural as possible. Bad enough they're ripped out of their world or bred in captivity for our viewing pleasure - but for stupid people's safety they should be made to feel as if they're in jail? I would never support a zoo with my money if I saw conditions like that.

I haven't even resolved my moral stance on the most naturalistic of zoos-good for you and the other(s?) who commented on wanting a family-friendly atmosphere.

Um, hello, the coyotes were there first. Personally, it's pretty cool to hear them howling some nights!

I was telling someone about a tree in front of someone's house where birds chirped all night (pleasant, no screeches) and she thought, in this overconcretized age, “how annoying!”

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.

They can't force treatment on me, so I'm not sure why bother going through the motions.

Rather than crusade on the boards I'll just say I'm glad there are political parties and individuals who think like this; you can look them up.

[ArenaBoy]

Had I done something like that, my mom would have forced me to get the shots no matter how much I hated it, so I would *gasp* learn the consequences of my actions.

I have a sinking feeling that my generation is the last to be told no, allowed to discover what not thinking things through can do, and have their self-esteem tested. That makes me sad.

Awesome article, confirms what I've been wondering about since I first noticed that my beloved metal-and-wood playgrounds were dying out. There used to be a huge all-wooden playground in Portsmouth, RI, but when driving past the spot last week I noted it no longer existed. WTF happened to letting kids learn things the hard way (a slide sitting in the sun will be hot, wood has splinters, never try to "bite" a metal swing support in winter, etc).

Holy crap, right on about those playgrounds. My grade school had those now they have all this safe crap on it. It used to be that falling off the jungle gym built character. They cannot even play soccer anymore or tag. TAG of all things, because some kid gets hurt and mommy complains that her precious little kid was nearly killed. Getting hurt builds character, not getting hurt builds nothing.

[varmintjane]

I honestly doubt that despite the fact that the child should know better (again her parent's responsibility), but I sincerely doubt she was being selfish in wanting to pet the "cute and cuddly" animal. Really, there are nine year olds that when they see something soft and cute, often don't think rationally or think to themselves that if they pet them, that will be selfish. That doesn't automatically make the child a bad person - just a normal curious kid. The parent's have the responsibility of teaching how to behave and how to own up to one's mistakes. The mother obviously didn't in this case, so the blame is on her.

Kibbles

How many 9 year olds would go through that much of an effort to get somewhere that they obviously should not have been? When I was 9 I might play chicken in the street, but I sure as heck wouldn't have climbed a barrier to a display in a zoo with my mom nearby. It's not completely her fault that she wasn't raised properly. It's pretty clear that she was probably spoiled and not used to being told no and her parents were ignoring her at the time. The parents are more at fault than the kid b/c they should have noticed their kid climbing up a wall. Yeah, nine is old enough to know better, no one cared enough to help her to know better. I hope the parents made clear to her what would happen to the meerkats when she refused the shots. The parents deserve to be ostracized and hopefully the kid will grow up to be a better person.

[Kiwi]

I have a sinking feeling that my generation is the last to be told no,

I think alot of our generation will gain some balls back when it comes to raising our kids, having seen what wrapping them in cotton wool can do.

my children will sure as hell hear the word no.

[biscuitchan]

In regard to the original story...

...she says that her four-year-old is 'like a monkey and could probably climb right over that'.

...THAT'S WHY YOU WOULD WATCH HIM CONSTANTLY AND NEVER LET HIM OUT OF YOUR FRICKIN' SIGHT.

Those poor meerkats...

[Dreamstalker]

I've been thinking this for years! The things my parents, and probably many of yours, let me do when I was a kid....oy! But I lived.

This is also why allergies are on the rise, kids aren't allowed to get dirty anymore. Hell, I used to play in the drainage ditch behind the house, hence the mesquite thorn!

My dad's parents used to live in a funky little tract housing development in Bowie, MD which backed up to a fairly extensive state forest. I used to play around in there all the time. Every so often I'd bring home harmless snakes, which always went over well (well, my dad thought it was cool, nobody else seemed to)

In third grade I was playing in the woods all the time. My grade school's playing field had a fairly steep hill, and come winter we would make a sled run (known to the local kids as "Suicide Slope" or another appropriate Calvin & Hobbes reference) and pour water down it so it froze. Then go down it on saucer sleds or those plastic "carpets" with no handholds. Some of us would end up flying (most of the time sans sled) a third of the way across the field upon hitting the "ramp" at the bottom of the run.

[XCashier]

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

The child was NEVER repremanded for what he did. In fact he was severely coddled.

That is such utter bull . Your dog was well in the right, protecting her home and family. That little bully should've been hauled to Juvie Hall. I hope he at least stayed away from your son from then on.

[One-Fang]

Hey you folks in other parts of the world: Aussies, Kiwis, Canadians... are things as nuts in your land??

No. No they're not. Nowhere near it. We look at what we perceive is happening in the US and shudder. We know it's going downhill. And we know it's only a matter of time before we follow.

[Pagan]

http://health.msn.com/pregnancykids/...42037&GT1=8404

I've been thinking this for years! The things my parents, and probably many of yours, let me do when I was a kid....oy! But I lived. I spent most of 6th grade with my knees skinned and covered in monkey blood. The only real scar I've got is from having to dig a mesquite thorn out of my calf, but it was my own stupid fault for climbing around in it. I never broke a bone until last summer (toe, really stupid story) and I'm 36!

This is also why allergies are on the rise, kids aren't allowed to get dirty anymore. Hell, I used to play in the drainage ditch behind the house, hence the mesquite thorn!

Hope everyone caught Alonzo Bowden (sp?) on Last Comic Standing tonight! He was talking about exactly this same thing!

[Dreamstalker]

Had I done something like that, my mom would have forced me to get the shots no matter how much I hated it, so I would *gasp* learn the consequences of my actions.

I have a sinking feeling that my generation is the last to be told no, allowed to discover what not thinking things through can do, and have their self-esteem tested. That makes me sad.

http://health.msn.com/pregnancykids/...42037&GT1=8404

Awesome article, confirms what I've been wondering about since I first noticed that my beloved metal-and-wood playgrounds were dying out. There used to be a huge all-wooden playground in Portsmouth, RI, but when driving past the spot last week I noted it no longer existed. WTF happened to letting kids learn things the hard way (a slide sitting in the sun will be hot, wood has splinters, never try to "bite" a metal swing support in winter, etc). I should probably treasure a few grade- and high-school report cards where I got Cs, Ds, even one of the dreaded Fs (teacher failed me for a BS reason).

My two little cousins are like that. Their mom is horribly overprotective in all the wrong ways. Even when they're playing with me on the computer, she's hovering. She won't let them even try new foods, so all they'll eat is hot dogs.

He finally found the disability he was to make allowances for: difficulty with Gestalt thinking. The 13-year-old "couldn't see the big picture." That cleverly devised defect (what 13-year-old can construct the big picture?) would allow her to take all her tests untimed, especially the big one at the end of the rainbow, the college-worthy SAT.

Untimed testing for that?! That is not a disability. This makes me sick. Trying to get accomodations for made-up crap like this screws everything up for the kids with real learning disabilities who truly need them.

[SongsOfDragons]

Come to England, we as an Island do not have rabies.

I'm sure this story will be rollocking throughout the Nanny offices soon and ensuring all zoos lock animals behind plate steel with tine viewholes 'for the kid's safety'. Cause they're like that.