Terrible story in Hungary: Meerkat killed by schoolkid at zoo, outrage ensues!
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According to blikk.hu, the entire country is shaken up by what had happened at the Kecskemét Wildlife Park this past Monday. A 5th-grader has thrown a pregnant meerkat to the floor at the Kecskemét zoo, causing the death of the animals. Since then, outrage has broken out as nobody wants to shoulder the blame.
Details of the incident
Zara, the pregnant meerkat, has died at the beginning of this week. Sources claim that the young boy was poking her with a stick, despite having been warned not to. A pregnant meerkat acts differently, and signs were warning against touching her. He ended up upsetting the animal, who instinctively bit his hand to break free. The boy, probably alarmed by the bite, dropped the animal which led to the death of the mother as well as the baby meerkats.
Blood was streaming from her mouth and nose. Several attempts were made to bring her back to life. The director of the wildlife park, Tamás Tokovics, tried heart massage as well as CPR, but to no avail. The autopsy showed that the cause of death was a burst aorta.
“It was excruciatingly painful to see her lifeless little body” – said Tamás Tokovics.
Zara has been at the zoo for a year and a half. She was one of the favourites of the visitors. The director raised her in his own office and at home until she got her own place, so his attachment is understandable.
Photo: facebook.com/kecskemetivadaspark
The director also said that, while he received the apology of the accompanying teachers and the parents, his
“disappointment is indescribable knowing that the boy was poking her with a stick instead of wanting to caress her, just before the bite.”
All the meerkats received their shots against rabies, so the bite is absolutely harmless, just a tiny bit painful. The director also added that Zara’s mate, Zorro, was searching and calling for her for hours.
Outrage
Everybody seems to be blaming someone else. As Tamás Tokovics said, we can ponder whether what had happened is a result of today’s youth not respecting nature or because the teachers can’t handle the kids, or even that the parents don’t spend enough time with them, talking about these issues. However, all this won’t bring Zara back. Instead of doing everything to find a culprit, he urges to create a world where such things can’t happen:
Little boy? 12 years old “little boy”?! C’mon, if he was three I’d understand but at age of 12 he should know much, much better!
@Vesna,
Big Girl, i wonder what you would have done had the critter chomped on your finger. The Zoo let this happen period. No need to make a Federal case out of it. Survival of the smartest.
If he was 3, as a mother, you would have killed the thing..