Zoos - Jezebel

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Woman Mauled By Polar Bear After Jumping Into Pit At Berlin Zoo
Zoo Gorillas Will Totally Cut You
The Elephant In The Room
Orphaned Baby Polar Bear "Talks" To His Zookeeper

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widowcity
04/12/09

In reply to Woman Mauled By Polar Bear After Jumping Into Pit At Berlin Zoo
I don't know if this makes me a bad person, but the first thing that popped into my mind when I read this story was Neko Case's new single, People Got a Lotta Nerve...
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MeganGlass 就是一个古代的三明治
04/12/09

@widowcity: Good call!
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Little Time Bomb
04/12/09

In reply to Woman Mauled By Polar Bear After Jumping Into Pit At Berlin Zoo
Doesn't this happen all the time with pandas? I know I've seen at least 2-3 stories about it in the last year or so. A panda does not want to cuddle, a panda will mess you up.
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Cesybabe or Nirvanah Crane
04/12/09

In reply to Woman Mauled By Polar Bear After Jumping Into Pit At Berlin Zoo
I have a similar story, that somehow has a happy ending. My flatmate, after sneaking into the local wildlife reserve was standing by the rhino enclosure. Some one said 'Wouldn't it be funny if someone took a swim in the rhino pool?' so he took a running jump into the pool. He got straight back out, and luckily only came away with a fungal rash, but he's now infamous for that.
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MeganGlass 就是一个古代的三明治
04/12/09

In reply to Woman Mauled By Polar Bear After Jumping Into Pit At Berlin Zoo
As a born and bred Alaskan who, like all alaskans, cheers when some dumb asshole gets eaten by a bear when they tempt fate, I say good! I say hooray! I absolutely reject the notion that playing up wild animals as cute is partially to blame. If someone is so lacking in survival instict to really buy into that, well, tough. When Binky the polar bear mauled an Australian woman at the Alaska zoo a few years back, the entire state of Alaska cheered, and laughed at the picture the Anchorage Daily News ran on its front page of Binky contentedly chewing on her sneaker. The woman, to her credit, didn't ask for any sympathy, she owned up to being stupid. When Tim Treadwell got eaten by grizzlies after 10 summers of trying to live with them in blissful, hippy communal coexistence, the reaction was "About time. Bound to happen. What a fucking jackass."

Lady fucked up, that's what happened.
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krokodil
04/12/09

In reply to Woman Mauled By Polar Bear After Jumping Into Pit At Berlin Zoo
I'm worried about the bear...I mean, it's not going to have to suffer for this woman's insanity, right?
I always get upset when, for example, dogs are put to sleep after they bite people. Often, these situations are set up and exacerbated by incompetent owners and ignorant passersby, and doesn't mean that the animal is "evil." They still have to suffer for /our/ idiocy though. :(
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par3
04/12/09

@krokodil: thank you for thinking like me (and i friended you just now). i have no sympathy for humans what so ever- but i also refuse to associate with people who dislike animals.
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Little Time Bomb
04/12/09

@krokodil: I know this happens sometimes in China with Pandas, in those cases the bears are not put down. In fact the humans can face prosecution. I have no idea if it's the same in Germany. I seem to remember those people who taunted the tiger and got mauled here in the US were sued and the tiger was not put down.
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Jack_Burton
04/12/09

In reply to Woman Mauled By Polar Bear After Jumping Into Pit At Berlin Zoo
I know how to solve this problem....

A waiver, and revolving doors.
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Liz11685
04/12/09

In reply to Woman Mauled By Polar Bear After Jumping Into Pit At Berlin Zoo
I always say I want to snuggle the zoo animals but damn, who would actually try to get close to a giant bear?? With her husband and baby there?? I'm thinking mental illness.
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jemandtheholograms
04/12/09

In reply to Woman Mauled By Polar Bear After Jumping Into Pit At Berlin Zoo
During feeding time?!? Really?
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sybann
04/12/09

In reply to Woman Mauled By Polar Bear After Jumping Into Pit At Berlin Zoo
This is the true meaning of NOMNOMNOM.
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Crackers In Bed
04/12/09

@sybann: ha!
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Rare Affinity
04/12/09

In reply to Woman Mauled By Polar Bear After Jumping Into Pit At Berlin Zoo
Putting a dog into a frilly lace bonnet and top is all part of the trend of refusing to acknowledge that animals are not cute cuddly toys. There was a case recently in the UK when a baby was mauled to death by two family dogs: one was a staffordshire bull terrier and the other a Jack Russell terrier. Time and again children are badly mauled and sometimes killed by family pets because people fail to respect the fact they are essentially animals and should be treated as such.
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musicpup
04/12/09

@Rare Affinity: WHAT? You mean animals were NOT created for the sole purpose of my dressing them up and abusing them?! Damn you.
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Rare Affinity
04/12/09

@musicpup: rhinovirus safari:Biting the hand that feeds you has never been a more apt maxim. :p
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Fridge Hussy : Is finally heading back to uni!
04/12/09

@Rare Affinity: Sadly, that's happened her in Oz too. People let their rottweilers into their baby's room (or in the backyard with the neighbour's kids). Unattended. Or leave their cabin doors wide open in an area with a large dingo population. It's horrible for all concerned, but I do wish people would take more care.
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Fridge Hussy : Is finally heading back to uni!
04/12/09

@Fridge Hussy : John Barrowman FTW!: Didn't mean to pick on rottweilers, but the fristr instance involved them specifically. Also don't mean to get victim-blamey. It just saddens me.
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musicpup
04/12/09

@Rare Affinity: In all seriousness, I hate it when people anthromorphize animals too much. Don't dress them up, teach your children how to handle even domesticated animals correctly, how to approach an animal, and what safety around said animals. If you've got an animal that could potentially pose a threat to other people (as in, has shown signs of aggression before, is venomous, etc.), please, get rid of it.
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quatrevingtquatre
04/12/09

@Fridge Hussy : John Barrowman FTW!: My grandma had a rott when I was 8 or 9 and that dog was my BFF. He would sit in the front yard and when anyone got even close to the fence, the bark he let out sounded like the dog who guards the gates to hell. He was the sweetest cuddle bunny ever (my dad's fam has a black lab now and THAT dog nips and jumps and snaps at people like there's no tomorrow). Not all Rotts are bad. And it really just depends on your dog and the dog's background. Also, I don't think it's fair to compare dingos and domesticated animals.
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maude_flanders
04/12/09

@thatonegirlsays: That's what I was going to say.

All of these cases (and every case of a dog mauling an infant...I blame parents for not at least TRYING to show toddlers how to treat a dog, but what can an infant do?) are awful, but I was under the impression that these terrifying dogs--rotts, dobermans, etc.--can be socialized to be PROTECTIVE of their family's children, if anything.

Poor kids.
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Mafalda para Presidente
04/12/09

@maude_flanders: I think at some points you just have to keep your kids away from anything that could potentially eat them. Animals aren't in control of their instincts at all times, even when well trained. Children are not always in control of their actions, they may do something that scares or threatens the dog.
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Ipomoea
04/12/09

@thatonegirlsays: You had Carl (of Good Dog, Carl fame)!

@maude_flanders: Everytime there's a pitbull attack, if you look at the dog's life, they're almost invariably unneutered and left chained for extended periods of time. I understand the logic behind breed bans, but I think that if dumbasses couldn't get a pitt to feel like a badass, they'd just get another breed and do the same. I'm sure if chow chows didn't look like giant lazy balls of fluff, they'd be featured as the gangster dog de rigeur, as there seems to be no shortage of asshole chow chows.
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bowleserised
04/12/09

In reply to Woman Mauled By Polar Bear After Jumping Into Pit At Berlin Zoo
I did love the response from the zoo. Not "we will build higher fences" or "we are reviewing our security" but "you could have known that a polar bear would do this."

One reason to love Germany.
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musicpup
04/12/09

@bowleserised: Germany and their common sense. I love them dearly.
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battleaxonista...is a humorless bitch
04/12/09

In reply to Woman Mauled By Polar Bear After Jumping Into Pit At Berlin Zoo
Sheesh, how stupid can you be. She brought her damn kid along with her, what's wrong with her? What if her child had decided to follow momma? And if she IS mentally handicapped, where the hell was her husband to keep track of her? Animals are already kept in depressing conditions as it is, and now it's going to get even worse as zoos make animals' lives even more of a living hell to keep dumbfucks like this out of enclosures.
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roscoe
04/12/09

In reply to Woman Mauled By Polar Bear After Jumping Into Pit At Berlin Zoo
silly. everyone knows that it's panda bears that we can cuddle with.

... right?
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stoprobbers
04/12/09

In reply to Woman Mauled By Polar Bear After Jumping Into Pit At Berlin Zoo
*HEADDESK* Animals are not cartoons; just because something looks cute doesn't mean it won't attack, bite and kill.

If this is something my 5 year old cousin can grasp (and he does, judging by our trip to the zoo yesterday during which, every time anyone approached the railing to anything, he adorably shouted "No! He bites!" We got him to relax after a little while..), then so can this woman.
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musicpup
04/12/09

In reply to Woman Mauled By Polar Bear After Jumping Into Pit At Berlin Zoo
I saw this yesterday and all I could do was shake my head. Yes, polar bears are cute. Most wild animals are to some degree or another. But if they have not been domesticated, don't try your luck with them - those claws and teeth are NOT simply for decoration. It should be common sense, but is not.

I also can't help but wonder if she had mental health problems of some kind; mostly, though, I kind of think, "She deserved to get mauled for jumping in." Nobody in their right mind would do something so dumb, and if she has mental health issues, I may be a little more lenient.
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