In Gorilla's Death, Critics Blame Mother, Cincinnati Zoo

[mnhtnbb]

66. What a nightmare.

Kids can be out of your sight in no time. I know from personal experience because my youngest was not quite 3 when we went
to the Omaha Zoo. My husband was with the oldest and my youngest would still sit in the stroller. I took him out of the stroller
turned to put the stroller against the building (to go into the new Lied Jungle exhibit) turned back and he was gone. Nowhere in sight.
I started screaming his name and everything went into slow motion. People turned around to look at me. I kept screaming. Everyone
stopped. And because they did, I saw him, still walking away from me. He was a good 20 yards away from me and my back had been
turned for only a few seconds.

That was before cell phones and the distraction of people carrying devices around in one hand with their faces in screens all the time.

It took a while to find the video that shows the gorilla dragging the kid around in the moat. If the gorilla didn't crush him, he surely could
have drowned him. What a horrible, awful decision to have to make.

I can't tell you how many times I've suggested to parents at zoos that they hold a young child by the hand, or take the kid down from
balancing him on the railing or barrier where a child could easily fall. And the signs are everywhere. People don't pay attention.

There are a lot of dumb parents out there. Clueless. But it only takes a second of distraction for an active, inquisitive child to get away
from even the most attentive parent.