Wrong! If they tormented the cat, they would treat people the same,no respect for anything.If they climbed the fence, or urged someone else, I don’t need them on my planet.The media wants us to feel soooorrry for them, if they instigated this at 17, 20 or 21 years old, they need to get out of the gene pool.I wasn’t that damnably stupid at that age, were or are you? Maybe you think its funny or okay to hurt or torture a caged animal. Or normal.I don’t.I call shenanigans! Visiting a zoo is a privilege, not a right to torment animals.The evidence is now coming in, it doesn’t look good for their lawsuit, and not wanting to give their name to the cops, are there warrants or parole violations out there?
I don't feel sorry for the alleged hulligans. I don't think its funny when animals are tortured (Mike Vick should have gotten 5-10 years). However, I draw the line when an idiot on this forum espouses that the youths should have been shot. your "out of the gene pool" comment makes me wonder about you as well. As a parent, I'd hate to think that an indiscretion would cost someone's son his life. Its not like the kid raped a girl, knocked over a bank, or murdered someone. From all indications, he was teasing a tiger. Dumb - yes. Should it result in a death sentence - no.
It is one of my biggest pet peeves that many people do not teach their children to treat animals with respect and kindness. Children are not born knowing how to deal with animals- they must be taught. I don’t care if one is an animal lover or not- they still have the responsibility to teach children how to interact with them- it is a basic life skill. There are a lot of animals on this planet that people have to coexist with.
I never for one instant allowed my children to mistreat any animal in any way- even when they were very small toddlers. If they were old enough to navigate to an animal they were old enough to punish for treating the animal badly, and old enough to teach the proper way to deal with animals. Respect and proper treatment of animals is just one of my fundamental rules. I am an animal lover, but the fact is it is also a safety issue for the child. No animal will tolerate being taunted and will strike back if possible. Many of the dog mauling children incidents begin with the dog being teased by the child.
I totally agree with you, I feel sad that this tiger had to die and the police and others were placed in danger because these jerks teased an animal and then managed to somehow cause this incident. These jerks were old enough to know better- but obviously didn’t, they were lacking in basic life skills. I do not feel sorry for these jerks.
I think the SF Zoo should let all the animals roam free....better yet, release them into the city.
That will reduce their global footprint. And I am sick of seeing Heather Fong’s ineptness every time something happens in that city. They need to bring back Harry Callahan.
I was a Park Ranger in Yellowstone, and I’ve seen numerous tourists walk up to bears and bison and treat them as if they were bunny rabbits.
I was also a ranger in Alaska, where I saw the same thing with bears and moose, and I did a lot of backpacking in Glacier park, where grizzlies have killed people.
By your “logic” if and when those bears/moose/bison attacked the foolish tourists/backpackers, they deserve to be killed by the beasts, as they instigated it.
I don’t believe in taunting animals, but Man was created by God, he has a soul, and has far more value than any animal, no matter how magnificent, and if I am ever at a zoo or park and someone is being attacked by an animal, no matter how the attack was instigated, I will pull my gun and shoot that animal.
People, with souls and ever-lasting lives, in Heaven or Hell, have far more value than animals...to think differently is to adopt the sick PETA mentality that says “ a dog is a rat is a boy.”
I expect to see such foolish, anti-Life and anti-Christian beliefs on DU, but I never, ever thought I would see such anti-Life sentiments here on free Republic.
Ed