Posted on 09/04/2008 3:55:57 PM PDT by Shermy
The Greater Vancouver Zoo is re-evaluating its educational raptor show after a four-year-old boy who volunteered to take part was left scratched and bleeding after a hawk landed on his head.
On August 31, during the 4 p.m. raptor show flying demonstration, veteran trainer Gary Worley asked a volunteer - the four-year-old boy - to grab a rope with a lure resembling a stuffed rabbit attached to the opposite end.
The boy was then instructed to run with the rope behind him, a move that prompted a Harris hawk to swoop down on the rabbit as if it was prey, according to Kimberlee Malins, a Coquitlam resident who sat in the audience with her six-year-old daughter.
"The trainer asked the little boy to drag the rabbit with the bird on top of it towards him. At that point ... the bird jumped off the rabbit and landed on the little boy's head.
"You couldn't see much of the kid's head under the bird. There was blood coming down his face. I was trying to shield my child from this, and I was about to throw up," she said.
When the boy was being carried away by his parents, the boy was bleeding, screaming, and yelling that he couldn't see, said Malins.
"I didn't sleep that night. I had nightmares about this poor kid."
Greater Vancouver Zoo spokeswoman Jody Henderson confirmed that the hawk, which is named Morgan and has been a feature of the raptor show for six years, landed on the boy's head just as he would on a perch, and caused no long-term damage.
...
In June, an eagle in the show was killed after it landed in the lion enclosure.
(Excerpt) Read more at canada.com ...
Running four year old boy. Rabbit. Raptor.
The headline made me think “Jurassic Park”!
Me too. I opened it a second before my brain realized ‘Raptor...birds of prey, dummy.’ Yeah, maybe not the best idea to put little preschoolers in the show.
Me too! I thought maybe it was an animated one run amok!
What on earth was this “veteran trainer” thinking of? Instructing a 4 year old boy to compete with a raptor for possession of a “rabbit” that the raptor has been tricked into identifying as food? The only thing the zoo needs to re-evaluate is the minimum IQ requirements for its staff.
It could have been worse.
You’re not saying this wasn’t educational, are you?
Shocking stupidity. Depraved indifference comes to mind.
Lesson learned:
Don't bring an eagle to a lion fight.
“Instructing a 4 year old boy to compete with a raptor for possession of a “rabbit” that the raptor has been tricked into identifying as food?”
That’s what I was thinking, but you say it so much better.
Years ago I took my then girlfriend and her 8 year old daughter to the San Diego Zoo and they had a bird show. A huge turkey buzzard was distracted by the little girl’s hair barrette and landed directly on her head. She screamed bloody murder which made the bird dig in deeper until a frantic handler raced up twenty aisles and retrieved the bird. Instead of an expected apology we were given a lecture about how it was our fault that this had occurred by the bird “specialist” and his assistant. Mind you this was as the little girl sobbing was wiping off the blood pouring out of several claw marks in her scalp. I don’t get angry easily but I got into a few faces very quickly but they would not back down and continued to berate us. That is till a fellow sitting just above us introduced himself as a lawyer and proferred me his card. First time I have ever been happy to see a lawyer in my life.
Now they couldn’t do enough for us. Offered free medical care, food and a year pass to all of us. I told them were they could put their offer and I have not been back since.
Accidents happen especially with wild animals. I excuse them. It was the human animals that I could not tolerate
What does your wife think of this story?
damn...i thought they meant raptor-raptor
wondered how they got one of them?
Canada...huh.
Thirty some years ago I was camping in the Maritime provinces for the summer and visited a tiny zoo on tiny Prince Edward Island. Everything seemed to be built to three-quarter scale.
Bought some fish pieces to feed the otters. On the way I took a slight detour to view the American Bald Eagle named Elsie. Elsie was in the open, tethered to a stout t-bar.
Before I got within 3 feet of the rail Elsie launched straight for me. Damn! I had nothing but eagle in my cone of vision and out stretched talons dead centered. If the tether hadn’t stopped her my face would have been her lunch. Wasn’t until a few minutes later that I realized she must have identified the fish in the clear plastic bag.
Even though it didn’t become an issue, I was glad that i was wearing dark khaki shorts. ;>)
Interesting.
Just recently banded a juvenile female sharp-shinned hawk which was an incidental capture (went after a Common Yellowthroat already in the mist net). As long as the talons were tucked away, very easy to handle.
I’d rather handle a sharpie than an eagle. I hear once they grab on with the talons, they can really do some damage.
I saw some owls not long ago and their claws looked more powerful than the eagle's...
I don't often pop my cork but that would do it.
Now they couldn’t do enough for us.
I guess that the vulture and the people were being true to their respective natures. And the lawyer but that's a unique species.
I'll have to ask her when she gets off work in 3 hours. FReeping while dispatching police/fire/EMS isn't generally a good idea.
We've cared for a few horned owls and barn owls while still living in San Diego. My wife had a ready supply of rats from Scripps at the time.
What’s this “Greater Vancouver Zoo” thing? Are they actually talking about the “Stanley Park Zoo”, or is it something different?
A fine specimen of Volatilis Rattus, in full flight.
:-) I guess I have a knack for thinking like a raptor. Actually, it’s sort of a toss-up as to whether the raptor viewed the little boy as competing for the “food”, or whether the raptor simultaneously realized that the rabbit was fake food but that the annoying creature trying to take the rabbit was REAL food. Either way, stoopid, stoopid zoo staff; much smarter raptor.
I mentioned the incident to my wife last night when she returned from work. She thought it was irresponsible of the falconer AND the parents of the small child to have him participating. Harris hawks don't have particularly large talons, nor are they particularly aggressive birds. The San Diego Wild Animal Park includes a Harris hawk diving on a lure from a suspended hawk house. It's a great demonstration of the hawk's capability, but doesn't put any of the audience at risk. Another demo has a hawk fetching dollar bills from people sitting in the bleachers. It's been so long since I was last at the park that I don't recall which bird is used for that demo. My last visit was in 1986.
Was the raptor racist? What’s the race? Of the boy.
(Life in a Obama Universe).
At least the kid wasn’t badly hurt, the bird just perched.
Hence, the story is funny.
I had a crow take an egg sandwich that I was about to bite into outta my hands when I was about 4 or so.
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