Yesterday Busch Gardens Tampa experienced an incident that is every zoo’s nightmare. An animal has escaped it’s enclosure and has access to the general public. Even though it was a crowded day at the park, zoo personal responded appropriately and was able to tranquilize “Luna” before either herself or a guest was injured. This by itself seems to be a minor incident that was speedily and professionally taken care of, but it falls on the heels of other major zoo incidents this past year that brings to the light the question …. “Are the Zoos Safe For Guests Now?”

Florida has had a tiger kill a zookeeper at the Palm Beach Zoo earlier this year. Back in 2002 a tiger bit the arm bitten off of a keeper by one of the park’s lions at Busch Gardens Tampa. Then just yesterday Busch Gardens had an orangutan escape; adding to a different orangutan escaping about a month ago. The difference is that this time the animal had access to the guests before the evacuation started. Even the Magical Kingdom of Disney had a misfortune of a little boy being grabbed by a alligator and drowned. Of course the huge memory is of the little boy that found his way into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo where zoo officials had to kill the gorilla for the safety of the boy. A few years ago there was the handler killed by the orca at Sea World Orlando and of course, there was the infamous Bronx Zoo Cobra. The Los Angeles Zoo itself has had a history of gorillas escaping their enclosures.

MOST instances of injuries from animals are the results of a rule not being followed or negligence of the person whom was attacked or in danger. Palm Beach Zoo stated that the zookeeper was not following the established guidelines which resulted in her misfortune. The handler at Sea World was in the water with the orca. There is always a risk with wild animals by a trainer when in direct contact with them, and most times that trainer will acknowledge that and continue to want to work with them. The incident in Cincinnati is common among a lot of zoos where people try to get into the enclosure with the animals, whether it be out of curiosity, need, or plain stupidity.

The exceptions do exist such as the tiger escaping it’s enclosure in the San Francisco Zoo in 2007 and killed one guest and injuring two others. There are a lot of instances of private keepers that has escapees. Yes, we can go on and on with examples, but the question arises ….. Are we safe in the zoos of America.

Draw a parallel to the prisons. We do everything we can to keep a convict in, but they do manage to escape on occasion. Animals are smart creatures and can figure things out over time. As for safety, all zoos are prepared and train for such an emergency to eliminate the loss of life of human or animal if such a escape were to happen. So YES!!!!! ZOOS ARE SAFE and I would have no problem taking my child to Busch Gardens Tampa or any other zoo for that matter.

Think of it this way, my dog bit me in the face once in the 13 years I have had him. Negligence on my part. I am certain you all have had one instance or another you can think of personally.

Enjoy your Independence Day and do not be afraid to celebrate being free no matter where you choose to go.

This post are the thoughts of the writer, The ThrillFreak, and are representative of any opinions or facts of anything other than what I have read or heard in both online and television research. This is not to be construed as a man with a mission, but a man to educate for the future.

David “Thrills”
The Thrill Freak @TampaAmazeMe

David “Thrills” is an avid enthusiast of thrill parks and entertainment activities in the Tampa Bay Area. He is also a proud veteran of the US Army. Be sure to follow me on twitter for live tweets or email me at tampathrillme@gmail.com for any questions or concerns.