Friday, August 04, 2006

5 Apple Valley Denizens Put to Death

You can read Chris' post over at After School Snack, or all the commentary at MNSpeak (73 and counting). Baker from MNSpeak encourages you to complain to the Department of Health.

A family of five Minnesota Zoo meerkats destroyed after a girl was bitten did not have rabies after all, a zoo official said today. The 9-year-old girl, who has not been identified, was bitten Wednesday when she reached her hand into the animals' exhibit. The meerkats -- two mates and their three offspring born this spring -- had been vaccinated for rabies but were killed because the girl's parents didn't want her to have to undergo a series of rabies shots, said zoo collections manager Tony Fisher... The girl had climbed atop 3 feet of rock work and reached over a 4-foot glass barrier Wednesday afternoon when she was bitten, said zoo collections manager Tony Fisher said. The rock work is designed to allow kids to climb up for a better view, he said. (Star Tribune) (alt. WCCO)

2 comments:

Linzy Eck said...

Scooter,
I read this story in the paper this morn and was shocked that this happened. Where were the parents while the little girl was scaling the rock and leaning in for a pet? I also think as a parent that I would treat my child for rabies versus having 5 animals put to death for something that was the fault of the parents not watching the child close enough to begin with!
Linz

She says said...

That's awful. I hope the parents had to at least pay some kind of compensation for the loss of the animals. It's not like it was anyone's fault but the parents' for not watching the kid.

(ohh, I sound like a lawyer, don't I?)