Edinburgh Zoo Four-year-old girl falls into big cat pen at Edinburgh Zoo

Just the sort of publicity that Edinburgh does not need right now. Happily there really is not a story to tell.

Four-year-old girl falls into big cat pen at Edinburgh Zoo
Four-year-old girl falls into big cat pen at Edinburgh Zoo | Edinburgh and East | STV News

 

I'm not really into conspiracy theories but it really does seem like someone, somewhere has it in for the zoo.

I would also add my usual complaint about sloppy, sensationalist reporting. The headline is ridiculous.

 

The exhibit the girl fell into has never been home to any Big Cats.

 

The area was cordoned off. Even the mother admits that. Therefore in my opinion it sounds like the child was not supervised properly.

 

Most people are blaming the mother for the incident.

Mum's terror as girl falls into big cats pen at zoo - Scotsman.com News

 

Best quote in the comments section:

 

And I'd agree with them, a zoo is not a place to let a 4 year-old loose/out of sight. I hope the zoo stand their ground and fight if any groundless compensation claim is made (rather than paying her "nuisance monies").

Hopefully in future she'll play on a park*, they'd save the entrance fee, a seemingly awful paper would be denied a (non) story and the zoo could avoid the potential bad publicity.

 

Some things pointed out in the comments that I really liked are:

1) Because the barried had 'fallen down,' did the mother believe it would be alright to cross it then?

2) She didn't know what might have been in the enclosure. Very little with a large section of the glass missing!

3) Since when has a window ledge been a child's walkway!

 

I'd have loved to see her try and get the water sample the next day if there had been a big cat in the enclosure...