SC causes death of entire family of Meerkats

[chainedbarista]

sadly enough, nightangel, even though i don't agree with the scratch issue(requiring quarantine), laws require the ten day, due to 'inability to verify exposures after vaccination.' it sucks; i had to turn in paperwork and do quarantines on cases that realistically, didn't need to be. some were so asinine, i wanted to plant a 7w boot in the asses of those responsible for the stupidity.

cases included:

parents allowing their four year old to wander into a pack of feral dogs to 'pet' them

various rodents (they die within 24 hrs of infection)

birds (rabies affects MAMMALS...why my time was wasted with this crap, i'll never know)

cases with little or no info, such as where, a description of the animal, what the victim did after exposure (all of this is necessary for me to even process the case)

people who 'have no idea' who the animal belongs to...

denial of animal's participation

refusal to give information on vaccination (they complied once they were told the animal can be euthanized without their consent if said info is NOT supplied)

it was a nightmare; most of the ten days were done in home, making things simpler, but it wasn't in accordance with procedure. unfortunately, i was given a job to perform, but no authority to perform it as per law. it basically sucked much backside.

i digress; the whole issue of these animals being put to death because of this kid's stupidity and 'mom's' irresponsibility is ridiculous. the quarrantine should have applied, animals set in quarrantine, cleared and all is normal, with two exceptions:

a fine levied for tresspassing
lifetme ban for inability to comply with saftey issues and park rules

idiots like these two have no business being near any animals, period. i can imagine what this brat would do if she saw a babt bear in a park.

'ooh, baby...' *followed by momma bear attacking...*

[Barefootgirl]

It does seem odd that the meerkats were euthanised straight away. i mean, meerkats in a zoo aren't going anywhere - how difficult would it have been for the keepers to keep the entire colony under supervision for the ten days or whatever the quarantine period is? Maybe take them off display for the quarantine period, to ensure that they are clean.

[Tria]

Why does that make it worse? The girl is 9 years old, what 9 year old would say that they wouldn't mind getting shots?
Kibbles

I never minded....

[Tria]

I bet if you asked the little girl

"would you rather we give you these shots or we kill all the meercats and take apart their brains" she would pick the shots. kids are afraid of shots but they also, in general, love animals and wouldn't want one to die.

Which leads to....

Mother: How DARE you try to guilt my daughter into suffering for these stupid animals!

[skeptic53]

a great article.

http://health.msn.com/pregnancykids/...42037&GT1=8404

This article is RIGHT ON!!!

American culture is getting downright warped... the whole entitlement thing, the lack of personal responsibility, the insane devotion to political correctness on one hand and extreme religious views on the other... BLECCH.

Hey you folks in other parts of the world: Aussies, Kiwis, Canadians... are things as nuts in your land??

[SongsOfDragons]

Come to England, we as an Island do not have rabies.

I'm sure this story will be rollocking throughout the Nanny offices soon and ensuring all zoos lock animals behind plate steel with tine viewholes 'for the kid's safety'. Cause they're like that.

[Dreamstalker]

Had I done something like that, my mom would have forced me to get the shots no matter how much I hated it, so I would *gasp* learn the consequences of my actions.

I have a sinking feeling that my generation is the last to be told no, allowed to discover what not thinking things through can do, and have their self-esteem tested. That makes me sad.

http://health.msn.com/pregnancykids/...42037&GT1=8404

Awesome article, confirms what I've been wondering about since I first noticed that my beloved metal-and-wood playgrounds were dying out. There used to be a huge all-wooden playground in Portsmouth, RI, but when driving past the spot last week I noted it no longer existed. WTF happened to letting kids learn things the hard way (a slide sitting in the sun will be hot, wood has splinters, never try to "bite" a metal swing support in winter, etc). I should probably treasure a few grade- and high-school report cards where I got Cs, Ds, even one of the dreaded Fs (teacher failed me for a BS reason).

My two little cousins are like that. Their mom is horribly overprotective in all the wrong ways. Even when they're playing with me on the computer, she's hovering. She won't let them even try new foods, so all they'll eat is hot dogs.

He finally found the disability he was to make allowances for: difficulty with Gestalt thinking. The 13-year-old "couldn't see the big picture." That cleverly devised defect (what 13-year-old can construct the big picture?) would allow her to take all her tests untimed, especially the big one at the end of the rainbow, the college-worthy SAT.

Untimed testing for that?! That is not a disability. This makes me sick. Trying to get accomodations for made-up crap like this screws everything up for the kids with real learning disabilities who truly need them.

[Pagan]

http://health.msn.com/pregnancykids/...42037&GT1=8404

I've been thinking this for years! The things my parents, and probably many of yours, let me do when I was a kid....oy! But I lived. I spent most of 6th grade with my knees skinned and covered in monkey blood. The only real scar I've got is from having to dig a mesquite thorn out of my calf, but it was my own stupid fault for climbing around in it. I never broke a bone until last summer (toe, really stupid story) and I'm 36!

This is also why allergies are on the rise, kids aren't allowed to get dirty anymore. Hell, I used to play in the drainage ditch behind the house, hence the mesquite thorn!

Hope everyone caught Alonzo Bowden (sp?) on Last Comic Standing tonight! He was talking about exactly this same thing!

[One-Fang]

Hey you folks in other parts of the world: Aussies, Kiwis, Canadians... are things as nuts in your land??

No. No they're not. Nowhere near it. We look at what we perceive is happening in the US and shudder. We know it's going downhill. And we know it's only a matter of time before we follow.

[XCashier]

I wasn't even allowed to file a complaint against the neighbor kid.

The child was NEVER repremanded for what he did. In fact he was severely coddled.

That is such utter bull . Your dog was well in the right, protecting her home and family. That little bully should've been hauled to Juvie Hall. I hope he at least stayed away from your son from then on.

[Dreamstalker]

I've been thinking this for years! The things my parents, and probably many of yours, let me do when I was a kid....oy! But I lived.

This is also why allergies are on the rise, kids aren't allowed to get dirty anymore. Hell, I used to play in the drainage ditch behind the house, hence the mesquite thorn!

My dad's parents used to live in a funky little tract housing development in Bowie, MD which backed up to a fairly extensive state forest. I used to play around in there all the time. Every so often I'd bring home harmless snakes, which always went over well (well, my dad thought it was cool, nobody else seemed to)

In third grade I was playing in the woods all the time. My grade school's playing field had a fairly steep hill, and come winter we would make a sled run (known to the local kids as "Suicide Slope" or another appropriate Calvin & Hobbes reference) and pour water down it so it froze. Then go down it on saucer sleds or those plastic "carpets" with no handholds. Some of us would end up flying (most of the time sans sled) a third of the way across the field upon hitting the "ramp" at the bottom of the run.

[biscuitchan]

In regard to the original story...

...she says that her four-year-old is 'like a monkey and could probably climb right over that'.

...THAT'S WHY YOU WOULD WATCH HIM CONSTANTLY AND NEVER LET HIM OUT OF YOUR FRICKIN' SIGHT.

Those poor meerkats...

[Kiwi]

I have a sinking feeling that my generation is the last to be told no,

I think alot of our generation will gain some balls back when it comes to raising our kids, having seen what wrapping them in cotton wool can do.

my children will sure as hell hear the word no.

[varmintjane]

I honestly doubt that despite the fact that the child should know better (again her parent's responsibility), but I sincerely doubt she was being selfish in wanting to pet the "cute and cuddly" animal. Really, there are nine year olds that when they see something soft and cute, often don't think rationally or think to themselves that if they pet them, that will be selfish. That doesn't automatically make the child a bad person - just a normal curious kid. The parent's have the responsibility of teaching how to behave and how to own up to one's mistakes. The mother obviously didn't in this case, so the blame is on her.

Kibbles

How many 9 year olds would go through that much of an effort to get somewhere that they obviously should not have been? When I was 9 I might play chicken in the street, but I sure as heck wouldn't have climbed a barrier to a display in a zoo with my mom nearby. It's not completely her fault that she wasn't raised properly. It's pretty clear that she was probably spoiled and not used to being told no and her parents were ignoring her at the time. The parents are more at fault than the kid b/c they should have noticed their kid climbing up a wall. Yeah, nine is old enough to know better, no one cared enough to help her to know better. I hope the parents made clear to her what would happen to the meerkats when she refused the shots. The parents deserve to be ostracized and hopefully the kid will grow up to be a better person.

[ArenaBoy]

Had I done something like that, my mom would have forced me to get the shots no matter how much I hated it, so I would *gasp* learn the consequences of my actions.

I have a sinking feeling that my generation is the last to be told no, allowed to discover what not thinking things through can do, and have their self-esteem tested. That makes me sad.

Awesome article, confirms what I've been wondering about since I first noticed that my beloved metal-and-wood playgrounds were dying out. There used to be a huge all-wooden playground in Portsmouth, RI, but when driving past the spot last week I noted it no longer existed. WTF happened to letting kids learn things the hard way (a slide sitting in the sun will be hot, wood has splinters, never try to "bite" a metal swing support in winter, etc).

Holy crap, right on about those playgrounds. My grade school had those now they have all this safe crap on it. It used to be that falling off the jungle gym built character. They cannot even play soccer anymore or tag. TAG of all things, because some kid gets hurt and mommy complains that her precious little kid was nearly killed. Getting hurt builds character, not getting hurt builds nothing.