In the past week the city of Orlando has been hit by a trio
of unthinkable tragedies of national repute.
First there was the horrific murder of former “The Voice” contestant
Christina Grimmie after one of her concerts, followed by the evil,
mass-shooting rampage at Pulse night club that resulted in 49 deaths, and then
there was the tragic death of a 2-year-old who was killed by an Alligator at a
Disney park. Though they all happened in
a short span of time in the same city, each story deserves its own space. That said, my sincerest condolences to all
those suffering loss in each case.
With respect to the latest incident involving the fatal
Alligator encounter, I’m wondering where the outrage is? I’m specifically asking this question because
only 3 weeks ago everyone was ‘up in arms’ about the terrible mother who was
such a bad parent that she allowed her toddler to get into a Gorilla enclosure at
a zoo in Cincinnati. I mean, seriously,
within hours of the news reporting that the Gorilla was killed to save the boy
there was an online petition (garnering hundreds of thousands of signatures) to
have the mother of the toddler brought up on charges of neglect? Well, we’ve got a very similar situation here
with parents whose child was in an off-limits location long enough to be within
the reach of a wild animal.
But where is the outrage?
Where is the online petition to have these parents thrown in jail?? What’s the matter people, gator got your
tongue???
Those who would try to draw distinctions between the 2
instances to justify their outrage at the Gorilla incident and their silence at
the Alligator incident have not a leg to stand on. In the Gorilla incident, the mother could not
have known that it was possible for her child to get into the enclosure because
I think the vast majority of people assume that zoos are designed such that
zoo-goers can’t get into the animal enclosures, and the animals can’t get
out. In the gator incident there were at
least signs (though terribly insufficient) that indicated no swimming in the
water. If we’re consistent as a society,
shouldn’t there be anger at the parents because they let their child get in the
water despite the no swimming signs?
As reported here at The Vortex, the loud chorus of people
laying blame at the feet of the mother of the toddler who “sneaked” into the
Gorilla enclosure were being ridiculous, unfair and absolutely
self-righteous. Parenting is a hard job and
NO ONE is immune to losing track of their child at any given time. It happens to EVERY parent, whether they want
to accept that reality or not. Unfortunately
it happened to this family at Disney as well, and sadly they lost their child
to the clutches of an Alligator.
There’ll be those who will say they were upset in the
Gorilla incident because Harambe the Gorilla was killed by the zoo in order to
save the boy. Well, I know Alligators
aren’t as warm and cuddly as Gorillas, but they are beautiful creatures in
their own right, and in the aftermath of the toddler being killed by an Alligator,
AT LEAST 5 Alligators have been killed at the Disney park in an attempt to
identify the single “killer gator” in this case. Think about that, 5 Alligators have been
killed so bite-marks on the toddler’s body can be matched against those gators' teeth. That means at least 4 Alligators, that
were just minding their business and being gators, have been killed as collateral damage in this quest. How is that any less wrong than the killing
of Harambe the Gorilla?
I would reiterate the point that the blame should be
directed toward the zoo (in the Gorilla incident) for not making certain that
people can’t get into an animal enclosure.
Likewise, Disney clearly needs better signs at its parks. A “No Swimming” sign is vastly different from
a “Danger: Alligators May Be In The Water” sign. I doubt the parents would have allowed their
son into the water had the signage been more complete and obvious.
Children can be lost in numerous ways ranging from
kidnappings to drownings despite the vigilance of great parents. Sometimes tragic, unimaginable things just
happen. This was true in the case
involving a little boy with the Gorilla, and this is the case with the little
boy and the Alligator. What bothers me
is the shockingly asymmetrical response by the general public. I would argue that, short of undeniably
damning evidence of negligence by the parents, the sympathetic and
understanding response by the public toward the family that lost their son to
an Alligator is the appropriate response.
I just wish that the family whose son was rescued from the grasp of a
Gorilla was afforded the same understanding.
-Maelstrom
