Woman survives polar bear mauling at Berlin Zoo
Posted on 04/13/2009 1:48:12 PM PDT by JoeProBono
"Zoo keepers who saved the life of a woman who jumped into a polar bear enclosure at Berlin Zoo revealed on Monday that they were moments away from shooting the animals.
Rifles had already been issued to marksmen and Heiner Kloes, a zoo spokesman, said: This woman's behaviour not only put her life in danger but also that of the staff who had to rescue her.
However, we do have guns and we would have been prepared to use them without hesitation if it was felt it was the only way to save the woman.
The woman known only as "Mandy K" not only endangered her own life, but those of the brave zoo keepers who rescued her. Mandy was severely depressed because she was recently laid of from her teaching job, but there are better ways of dealing with depression. Mandy is still in intensive care, she has paid dearly for her foolish action and we shouldn't pile on her.
If the zoo keepers had killed the polar bears who were only defending their turf from a trespasser there would have been a worldwide outrage from animal lovers. The bears are captured and imprisoned in a cage, to shoot them because an idiot jumps into their enclosure would be nothing short of murder.
If a similar incident happens in the United States and the zoo administrators decide to shoot a zoo animal, I guarantee that the zoo officials would not enjoy a day of peace for the rest of their lives.
Woman survives polar bear mauling at Berlin Zoo
>...but there are better ways of dealing with depression.
Yes, but it IS a permanent solution, is it not?
wouldn’t it have been more reasonable to shoot the woman?
afterall, she was out of her cage.
They prefer the life of a carnivorous animal over the life of a human.
I’ve heard that people shouldn’t drink coffee when in the arctic. Something about it attracts the bears.
AnimalS?
I thought it was just one "Darwin award wanna' be" that jumped in to say hi.
Can’t blame the Polar Bear, he thought it was a cow!
What a hideous picture. She was a nut case and it would have been annoying to have to rescue her, but I’m sure if they had even started firing, the bears would have dropped her. The thing that’s weird is that they - people who work with animals - are all terrified of the “animal rights lobby.”
Weird article. I’ll criticize Mandy all I want because, after all, she’s a stupid idiot.
They should have let the bears eat her.
The woman was a fool, but to suggest that they should let her die to spare the bear is morally outrageous. Even fools are human, and bears are not.
Humans should always be protected before animals...even crazy humans. That said...humans should be responsible for the damages they cause during the rescue.
In the picture, it looks like she is trying to bite the bear.
It’s happened before and, sadly, it didn’t work out so good for the bears.
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/20/nyregion/polar-bears-kill-a-child-at-prospect-park-zoo.html
You’re right. It is a hideous picture. What in the world is that bear doing with his 2 back legs on the rock and his front paws in the water?! He should’ve been entirely in the water. Then he could’ve used his front paws to guide the head into his mouth and snapped it off at the neck.
No, I’m not kind.
I believe Knut is the one that took a bite out of that big rump roast.
Awful.
The polar bear is just doing what polar bears do.
No blame there.
The woman was at fault.
Should’ve let the polar bear finish, but at least they didn’t shoot them.
Imagine the nut’s shock when the polar bear didn’t want to play pattycake with her but actually EAT her.
That loon that wanted to live with the bears in Alaska found out how sweet little bears are.
Anybody remember the Meercat (sp?) family destruction from last year?
Some asshole kid put their arm in the cage and got bit.
They wanted to give the kid the rabies treatment regimen, which is quite painful.
Instead, the mother made the zoo kill the ENTIRE Meercat family to check for rabies, since they didn’t know which critter bit the lil’ bastard.
Disgusting.
We humans should know better, AND ACT LIKE IT.
Well, I sure hope nobody has to make the choice to rescue you someday...or that if they do have to make that choice, your words are emblazoned on your forehead and they decide not to bother with you after all.
Any human being is worth more than any animal. Shoot the animal (but I’m sure a non-lethal shot would have driven it away) and then sue her and make her pay for a replacement polar bear. That bear had already lived longer in captivity than it would ever have lived in the wild, so it had more than gotten its money’s worth.
But my point is that the animal loony crowd has intimidated even reasonable folks like zoo keepers.
Polar Bear: "Hmmm... This seal doesn't taste right."
The heck we shouldn't pile on her.
It was dangerous, not only to her but to the animals and their keepers, it was also STOOOOPID.
I say dog pile on Mandy!
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