Dear fans,
Please read our local paper's story, and if it upsets or moves you as much as me, please contact the newspaper and let them know. My own response is at the end of the article. Or is killing just okay?
Re:
Meerkat's rabies tests prove negative By Bob Von Sternberg / StarTribune startribune.com
A family of five Minnesota Zoo meerkats destroyed after a girl was bitten did not have rabies after all, a zoo official said Friday. A family of five Minnesota Zoo meerkats destroyed after a girl was bitten did not have rabies after all, a zoo official said Friday.
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.
State Health Department rules mandate that exotic animals must be tested for rabies if a bite victim is not treated, said department spokesman Doug Schultz. "And the only way to test the animal is to put it down," he said.
Kelly Lessard, spokeswoman for the zoo in Apple Valley, said the animals had to be destroyed "even though we were 99 percent sure they didn't have rabies. We had to protect the child."
Meerkats, a highly social relative of the mongoose and native to the African desert, were popularized in the Disney animated movie "The Lion King" and have been on display at the zoo for about four years.
Pam Bennett-Wallberg, who runs what she calls "a retirement home" for meerkats in the California desert, said the animals "are not at all aggressive. People go into our enclosure all the time, and never in 20 years has anyone been bitten."
Although meerkats are known to carry rabies in the wild, they are routinely vaccinated against the disease when placed in captivity, she said.
"This is a tragedy, one of the saddest things I've heard of in a long time," said Bennett-Wallberg, who attended the grand opening of the Minnesota Zoo meerkat exhibit in 2001.
A 1994 study of meerkats found only 10 documented cases of rabies-infected meerkats attacking humans or domestic animals in the previous decade.
The girl had climbed atop 3 feet of rock work and reached over a 4-foot glass barrier when she was bitten, said Fisher. The rock work is designed to allow kids to climb up for a better view, he said.
Sue Gergen, another zoo spokeswoman, said the child "really had to work to get to a place where she could be bitten. She had to climb quite a bit of rock work."
Zoo staff members were notified soon after the incident. The exhibit will be closed until crews lower the rock work to prevent anyone else from reaching over the glass, Fisher said.
A second group of four male meerkats will be moved from an indoor exhibit to the outdoor one once the modifications are made, a process that should take a week or two, Lessard said.
Zoo officials will look into the possibility of obtaining additional meerkats, possibly females, in the hope of breeding them, Gergen said.
The entire family of meerkats was destroyed because it was not known which one bit the girl, Fisher said.
Staff writer Chao Xiong contributed to this report. Bob von Sternberg • 612-673-7184
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14194508/ MSNBC.com © 2006

Respectfully To My State's Governor Dear Tim Pawlenty,

The meerkat sacrifice at the Minnesota zoo sickens me on so many levels, vividly illustrating what is systemically wrong with human reasoning, i.e., it is easier to kill than accept and take responsibility for ones actions and mistakes. Sadly, I am not surprised that a family who was unable to control their child’s behavior and had not taught their child the discipline of enclosure, continued to manifest their own incapability by demonstrating lack of respect for life. These actions are not of victims but of predators, and our laws enable such conduct. The child is now open to abuse from her family and the public by guilt manifesting into the child being blamed for the animals being slaughtered. Legally there need be accountability, and socially we need to intervene. Disregard for life, any life, in the name of connivance is a mindset that we disparately need to change. If not now, when? If not here, where? If not us, who?

Sincerely,

Well I guess the girl and parents made the mistake and the poor meerkats had to pay the price. I go to alot of Zoo parks and I see the samething, parents let their kids run wild, no discipline. Well being a cop I see this lack of discipline grow into adulthood and sets a course for criminal behavior. The zoo should have a policy at the gate, simple rules, if you break the rules and get hurt, well its your problem, simple policy. If you here of ice on a sidewalk and you run on it, is it the city's fault or yours for running. Simple things to think about. The parents of that little girl should teach the girl to keep her hands where they belong, Answer(to herself).
SAL

Hi nccop,
I agree with everthing you have said. Funny we are on a UK website but live just 3 hours away from each other. I'm in the land of the ECU Pirates.

quote:

Originally posted by nccop:
Well I guess the girl and parents made the mistake and the poor meerkats had to pay the price. I go to alot of Zoo parks and I see the samething, parents let their kids run wild, no discipline. Well being a cop I see this lack of discipline grow into adulthood and sets a course for criminal behavior. The zoo should have a policy at the gate, simple rules, if you break the rules and get hurt, well its your problem, simple policy. If you here of ice on a sidewalk and you run on it, is it the city's fault or yours for running. Simple things to think about. The parents of that little girl should teach the girl to keep her hands where they belong, Answer(to herself).
SAL

Hi
It is funny we are on a UK website and live so close.

sal
I guess Meerkat have that power to bring people together.

Why didn't they do a 10-day quarantine? We treat 'wildlife' differently from pets too, and generally require euthanasia, but contained *vaccinated* zoo animals?

Animals that are contagious with rabies *will die* within 5-7 days, thus the 10-quarantine. Contained zoo animals are always quarantined anyway! Sad...

I agree Sal,
some people really owta teach their kids to behave, If i did that when I was little, Id get a proper telling off from my parents...I suppoe they are best off in Meerkat Heaven then being attacked by horrible kids

Yes i have read this, it was very sad and sick what they done to the inercent little meerkats and for no reason at all.

This is the main reason why i diagree with meerkats being kept in zoos

STUPID PARENTS

OMG!!

The poor meerkats. It wasn't their fault! That idiot girl probably pulled their ears or something, they'll be no other possible way a meerkat would bite a human for no reason.

WHAT IDIOT PARENTS! If I ran the zoo I wouldn't have the meerkats put down. Hopefully she'll know better next time! She deserves a long-term eviction with some bites to the base of the tail!

May the meerkats rest in peace...