Parents Sue Zoo - For or Against?

Againts. Also the mother should be punished in my opinion because she fed her child to the dogs. I'm sure the poor woman is devastated, but that doesn't excuse her lack of basic judgement.

You act as if she threw the child in the pit. Come on.

Pretty sure she already WAS punished. Having to watch her child get torn to shred in front of her eyes is punishment enough.

I gotta agree with this...horrific punishment is an understatement.

While I don't hold the zoo responsible. I wouldn't want to see the mother "punished" any more than she already has been.

So what about parents that leave their children in hot cars and cook them, or don't buckle them in and the die in a crash, etc. Can no blame be placed on the person responsible because they were already "punished" emotionally?

A mother walks her kid down the street, kid is on the street side, they momentarily go into the street around a parked car as there is a large crowd in front of them, kid pulls away from mom and darts into street....

Is mom negligent because kid was on the "street side"? Because she moved into the street simply trying to get around a "bunch up" ? Thus neglecting the warnings of "don't walk in the street, except at a crosswalk". Come on, this is apples and oranges...

Mom made a terrible judgement call, bypassed warning signs...and then failed to control the motions of her child. That is all true, is she criminally negligent for her childs death as a result? I think it was a grave error on her part, and a horrific accident, and I attribute the "blame" to the mother, but I still consider it an accident.

I am not even commenting on that because it is a terrible analogy. Leaving your kid in a hot car isn't. People warn you not to do it, there are laws and signs, but when a parent does it they are usually charged with a crime. What is different about this? She clearly put her child in danger and broke clear rules doing it. Should be charged IMO.

You're making it sound like kids dying in hot cars results from parents leaving them there intentionally. It's very, very rare that that happens. Usually it's just a horrible mistake and isn't a result of negligence.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022701549.html

id like for them to take raw meat, place it on the mothers belly and let the dogs have a go at it

You're surrounded by folks hanging onto every word at dinner parties, aren't you?

RE: the lawsuit..
I've read a few of the stories reporting the incident online. I think it's interesting how quickly people form opinions based on OP's retelling of a story with no links at all. First link shows up in second page of thread and it has some pretty important information that wasn't in OP.

If what the lawsuit alleges is true - that a zoo employee warned the zoo about the behavior, and it can be proven that zoo officials knew parents were holding their kids over the rails, then it seems that some level of responsibility could be pinned on the zoo.

I don't know what warning signs were posted. It's easy to think "the parent should know better," blame everything on the mom, and go off on some rant about personal responsibility from behind my keyboard. But I know that I'm the only parent here that has done something stupid and accidentally put my kid at risk. For all I know, this mom was one of multiple parents doing this at the time, and it's entirely possible that the risk wasn't apparent to her. The netting mentioned in the story (to catch falling debris) might have been mistakenly thought to be a safety net of some kind.

We seem to be assuming that the situation was *clearly* dangerous and the mom knew she was putting her child in harm's way. That may have been the case - and if so, I hope the mother gets charge with child endangerment.

Separately, I wonder what the zoo could have/should have done. In order to attempt to prove the zoo had prior knowledge of the behavior and did nothing to prevent it, the lawsuit has merit. Don't know if that really makes me "for" it, but I'm not against the lawsuit, based on what I've read. There is enough information for me to have some questions about the zoo's responsibility.

Against!

Againts. Also the mother should be punished in my opinion because she fed her child to the dogs. I'm sure the poor woman is devastated, but that doesn't excuse her lack of basic judgement.

You act as if she threw the child in the pit. Come on.

Pretty sure she already WAS punished. Having to watch her child get torn to shred in front of her eyes is punishment enough.

I gotta agree with this...horrific punishment is an understatement.

While I don't hold the zoo responsible. I wouldn't want to see the mother "punished" any more than she already has been.

So what about parents that leave their children in hot cars and cook them, or don't buckle them in and the die in a crash, etc. Can no blame be placed on the person responsible because they were already "punished" emotionally?

A mother walks her kid down the street, kid is on the street side, they momentarily go into the street around a parked car as there is a large crowd in front of them, kid pulls away from mom and darts into street....

Is mom negligent because kid was on the "street side"? Because she moved into the street simply trying to get around a "bunch up" ? Thus neglecting the warnings of "don't walk in the street, except at a crosswalk". Come on, this is apples and oranges...

Mom made a terrible judgement call, bypassed warning signs...and then failed to control the motions of her child. That is all true, is she criminally negligent for her childs death as a result? I think it was a grave error on her part, and a horrific accident, and I attribute the "blame" to the mother, but I still consider it an accident.

I am not even commenting on that because it is a terrible analogy. Leaving your kid in a hot car isn't. People warn you not to do it, there are laws and signs, but when a parent does it they are usually charged with a crime. What is different about this? She clearly put her child in danger and broke clear rules doing it. Should be charged IMO.

You're making it sound like kids dying in hot cars results from parents leaving them there intentionally. It's very, very rare that that happens. Usually it's just a horrible mistake and isn't a result of negligence.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022701549.html

What? How is it not negligence if you leave your kid in a hot car? You know you have a kid with you and that you can't leave them out there. I don't care if it's an accident, you are still responsible.

She lifted the kid up over the railing and then dropped him. I'm sure the zoo was not expecting people to chuck toddlers into wild dog enclosures. Come the eff on.

Hahaha yes! ^^

Against!

So, wait? If my toddler fell into something filled with a wild pack of dogs I would jump in their and get my *kitten* eaten to try to save my child. Was she just watching?!?!!?! What the hell? Omg.... If someone else dropped their child in their and she hopped in I would too... Just to take some dogs away from her and her child. Or I would tell my husband too....

Anyways, Against.

Totally against -- parents need to be responsible. This parent was not as responsible as she should have been.

Seriously? She was incredibly stupid, not evil. Good grief.

Also, I'm against the lawsuit. People need to use their brains and be accountable for their own actions.

Totally against -- parents need to be responsible. This parent was not as responsible as she should have been.

Seriously? She was incredibly stupid, not evil. Good grief.

Also, I'm against the lawsuit. People need to use their brains and be accountable for their own actions.

You misquoted me. Nowhere did I say she was evil. I said she was not as responsible as she should have been. Having grown up visiting wildlife parks where things like buffalo and bears roam free and living in an area where cougars leave footprints in my backyard --

If there is a fence and a barrier and signs saying DANGER DO NOT DO THIS (and from the pictures I saw -- she very clearly had to go above and beyond these to put her child over the barriers and into the air ABOVE the enclosure) -- that is a lack of responsibility. A responsible parent does not put their child in a situation where they are exposed to wild animals. Holding your toddler in the air above an open enclosure? Completely irresponsible behavior and a clear lack of common sense.

So, wait? If my toddler fell into something filled with a wild pack of dogs I would jump in their and get my *kitten* eaten to try to save my child. Was she just watching?!?!!?! What the hell?

Just a note for clarification: According to the story, she tried to get in to save the child, but other guests held her back because it was unsafe and would likely have ended with both of them being killed.