When children are attacked by wild animals, are the animals to blame, or are the parents???
Parents mind your children.
Parents, it is your job to keep them safe, and to know things that a young child does not know. Such as the fact that Sea Lions are WILD animals, and are not to be fed, or gotten close to, comes to mind.
As does the fact that Gorillas are, pound for pound, one of the strongest animals on the planet. And don’t even get me started about alligators and crocodiles. I’ll never, ever, forget the three year old boy who climbed through a flimsy fence structure to plummet 15 feet to where Harambe, the gorilla was just minding his business. But lost his life because the child was not restrained by his mother, and the zoo not having maximum protection around the exhibit, so just such an accident could never happen. Then there is the family who were wading in water on the beach of their Disney World resort, where there was a sign posted NO SWIMMING, when their beautiful boy was snatched by an alligator and dragged to his death. Now the parents stand to make millions of dollars off a wrongful death settlement…hmmm…the money won’t bring back your son. And, I don’t want to come across as a cold hearted bitch, but are we REALLY going to give people millions of dollars because a few words were missing? Such as ALLIGATORS LIVE HERE, NO SWIMMING? I mean, really??? No disrespect to their sweet boy, who sadly is the victim of his parents asinine behavior, but, are they new to the planet??? Who doesn’t know that in Florida??? Virtually every body of water there most likely has alligators. It is FLORIDA people, not a body of water in upstate New York. That and the fact that there was a sign that said NO SWIMMING, period, end of story. Regardless of if it said alligators or not, it still told you not to, and you did it anyway. Bless his little soul, what a horrible way for anybody to die, never mind a small two year old angel like him. I say this is on the parents.
Parents. Mind. Your. Children.
Like, I’m sorry. I feel absolutely awful about the little girl who was dragged into the water at the wharf in BC today. The entire experience, post feeding it, must have been incredibly traumatic. Falling in the water next to the sea lion would have been one thing, but sitting down, and then finding yourself DRAGGED into the ocean, and submerged under water by it?? That must have been quite frankly, terrifying. I get gawking at the creature; we used to live in La Jolla, California, and there is this area “Seal Beach”, where seals and sea lions chill, swim, and suntan all together, we took our girls, and visiting family there all the time. It is awesome to see them up close, but, I’ve always been incredibly mindful to keep the girls a safe distance away from them, and obviously to never, ever feed them. There are so many reasons why I don’t feed any wild animals, but mostly it is due to the fact that I don’t want to be one of the people who makes them think that their food will come to them. Wild animals need to be respected, and feared. I’m confident not a single person there thought; “better be careful with this sea lion in case he pulls one of us in the water” I mean google them, there are very few incidents of attacks by them on humans; most are thought to have been for “fun and games” as it were. I’m thankful she didn’t get hurt. I’m relieved that the sea lion didn’t take her underwater and swim away with her. I’ve watched them while sitting at the ocean, and man can they submerge themselves and travel a good distance under water before needing to come back up for air. Which leads me to believe that this sea lion wasn’t trying to take her away for dinner, but if not, then what was it thinking???
So moving forward people, don’t fucking feed wild animals!! And, if you happen to be in the proximity of wild, strong, and fast moving critters…keep your child close to you, either on your shoulders, your back, your hip, a stroller, wherever, and for the love of God, if a sign tells you to not do something, then just be obedient, your life might just depend on it. Most importantly never, ever put your child in harms way, protect your kids, this is your most important role parents.
