Two tragedies have taken place. The first occurred in Cincinnati, when a young boy climbed into the gorilla exhibit at the zoo which ended in the gorilla being shot dead in order to save the child. The second occurred in Orlando, when a little boy was playing along the shore of a lagoon and was drowned after being attacked by an alligator.
This is absolutely not to not to diminish what has happened here. Two lives have been lost. All I am saying is that we should tune in with the families instead of turning against them.
Parents are being ridiculed for not watching their children properly when, in reality, there is not a parent in the world that can keep a watchful eye on his/her child every single second of every single day. That would be impossible. I’m not a parent, but I nanny and I can’t even watch the kids every second for only a few hours. The parents involved in these hardships should not be investigated and ripped apart by the public for turning around for 20 seconds. Maybe instead of calling the families out for bad parenting, we should show some sympathy and be supportive as they grieve.
In the Cincinnati Zoo incident, the only investigation taking place is on the capability of the parents; CNN reported that “Cincinnati police said Tuesday that their review "is only regarding the actions of the parents/family that led up to the incident and not related to the operation or safety of the Cincinnati Zoo." I truly believe the blame should not be put on the parents. I do not particularly think it should be put on the zoo either, but why place blame at all? Clearly, everyone is upset about the death of Harambe, so why don’t we grieve rather than try and find someone at fault. According to CNN “some [people] suggested the boy's parents should be held criminally responsible for the incident. An online petition seeking "Justice for Harambe" earned more than 100,000 signatures in less than 48 hours.” Yes, it is terrible that a life was lost, but that is what the zookeepers felt needed to be done. It is not the parents’ fault that the gorilla was killed. I’m sure if the same thing happened to any of those people who signed that petition, they would’ve wanted the zookeepers to save their child as well.
Similarly the parents of the child who was attacked by the alligator are facing some of the same “bad parenting” accusations. Their son “waded into about a foot of water in a lagoon” before being dragged into the water and drowned by an alligator. Although it has not been reported if the police will investigate the parents, thousands of people have taken to social media saying things such as “more innocent animals being killed because of piss poor parenting” . These parents have just lost a child. Everyone seems to think that they are, or would be, a better parent in these situations. The hard truth though is that only takes a turn of the head for tragedy to strike.
