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Thursday, November 5, 2015

A Special Kind of Stupid

The downside of last month's venom theme was that it made me temporarily overlook some interesting stories in the world of zoos.  There are the usual births and deaths and such.  There were also a few more... colorful occurrences.  Here are three particularly head-banging incidents that you may have missed in increasing order to stupidity.


This one isn't as much a stupid event as a bizarre one, one that was allowed to become humorous only because it narrowly dodged tragedy.  The current migrant crisis in Europe has enough tragedy going on right now, and it seems like everyone crossing the continent in search of a better life has a story.  Well, no one has a story like these three men, whose efforts to hitch a ride got them uncomfortably close to one of the world's largest predators.  Again, though, not the dumbest thing to happen... let's move to the next.

Moose roam a large enclosure at  Polar Park Arctic Wildlife Center in northern Norway.


Well, I guess no one can complain that this exhibit isn't natural looking.  I must say, the zoo in question is being much more understanding than I would be in these circumstances - all they're asking is that the hunter reimburse the zoo for the animals and the veterinary costs.  I'd have been a little less forgiving, I think.  Side note, this story causes a little confusion when it reached the US press because the animals shot were referred to as "elk."  In Europe, the animal that we call the moose goes by that name, not to be confused by the animal that we in the US call the elk (or sometimes wapiti).  This is why Latin names are useful.

Alright, tragic and unfortunate, but at least this guy had the excuse that he was mistaken.  What kinds of stupidity can someone get into deliberately?




Yep, we have a winner.  Here's the dumbest thing on the Internet.  And it happened on Halloween, of all nights, easily making this the worst nightmare than many zookeepers could have.  The zoo is pressing charges, as they should.  And just to lay everyone's worries to rest about the real victim here, the tiger is fine, and nothing bad is going to happen to her.

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