The gorilla enclosure threads are entertaining...
... But it's actually quite simple. If you open your premises for a fee, you have a duty to keep the premises reasonably safe for the people you invite thereon. If you are inviting children, then you have a legal duty to make the premises reasonably safe for said children. It's not an absolute duty to never let anyone get hurt - but a duty to take any and all steps that a reasonable premises owner would take to protect the invitees.
Parents of children ALSO have a duty to act reasonably in protecting their kids. They are not responsible for being perfect - just reasonable in the eyes of the jury. It's entirely possible - indeed likely - that BOTH could be found to be at fault to varying degrees.
So it all comes down to who acted reasonably under the circumstances. We can obviously debate that - that's part of the fun of an Internet board. But people need to keep in mind that there are no hard and fast rules that decide the issue either way. Everyone is entitled to see it from their perspective.
= new reply since forum marked as read
The zoo had a spotless record for 38 years which shows that the overwhelming majority of patrons know how to behave. Kudos to the years of parents who knew how to teach their children to behave in public. It is sad that what will make them beef up their enclosures (in order to be able to safeguard the animals) is the fact that there are adults who either don't go to the zoo with ample adult back-up to watch over the kids or show poor judgement when they fail to adhere to warnings that one of their little darlings is about to take off and create total disaster.
Too many parent today allow their kids to rule the household. It is not that unusual to see kids doing whatever they want to in public with no concern about consequences. One of my biggest beefs are those parents who, when they are on vacation, think that they are also on vacation from parenting their children. I have seen kids run laps in a plane thousands of miles in the air on a transatlantic flight (what could possibly go wrong 
). I was on another transatlantic flight where mom went to sleep and left dad to deal with the 3 kids, 2 were great, 1 would not shut up (how about teaching inside vs outside voices?). One elderly gent finally got up, turned to the dad and said "It is 2 o'clock in the morning, can't you please make her shut up?" I wanted to applaud the guy. Night flights can be hell if you can't get any rest. I have seen kids running around a clothing store making me fearful that they would run over an elderly patron (I grabbed them and told 1 child to see in chair A and the other child sit in chair B and to not move until Mom was ready to leave). I have had to lecture kids that you don't hit animals (Why on earth should a child think that is acceptable behavior? The kids a few blocks over got that from their Mom 
) . In the digital age, people are far too often focussed on their phone (calls, texts, searching the web) and lose sight of what is going on around them.
I have seen familes that are fabulous and great to be around (and the kids are a credit to the parents). Others, I want to shove off a cliff.
