Zoo thoughts

It's so difficult to express how circumstances could have been avoided or at least minimized without it coming across as blaming someone for misfortune.

I have been thinking about the zoo incident with the gorilla being put down to protect the child. I didn't see the unedited video which I've heard shows the child being dragged through the water so I can't comment on that. What I was thinking about was how the lack of planning combined with an unfortunately accessible layout at the zoo caused the child to be in danger.

I've taken my kids to the zoo and at the time one of them was a toddler. He stayed in a stroller because I knew I couldn't keep hold of both kids running free and I had a lot of help. Kids are escape artists and it doesn't matter if they usually are well behaved and still, when you add in an environment of excitement, crowds, and anything out of the ordinary the makings of disaster are all there. It saddens me that it so often takes something of that magnitude for people to realize how easy it is for children to get into trouble. Hopefully people will take away from this the need for vigilance and support in order to keep kids safe in potentially dangerous venues.