I’ve got mixed feelings on this one. The zoo should definitely have an enclosure that prevents an errant child from getting in so easily. I know it would practically be impossible to make it adult proof. The parents are to blame as well. If they can’t maintain their kids on an outing then maybe they shouldn’t go or at least put them on some kind of leash and harness just like we do with dogs.
Being a dog/animal lover myself; I do think animals should have some basic rights. Obviously all zoo animals and all pets; even runaway pets. Human life must come first. That’s just the way it is but when I hear some cowboy say they will shoot any dog they see roaming around on their property; I think to myself - just try that with one of mine. There would be two bodies being buried that day. If I’m out walking and letting my dogs get some exercise out it the country and some inbred shoots one of them; I’m being attacked and have every right to defend myself to the point of killing the shooter which I would most definitely do my best to do.
According to the Bible, animals do have rights. They have the right to be treated well by us, even if we plan to eat them. We are not to be cruel to animals. Even emotionally cruel. That is part of the kashrut law.*
Now, we are free to rid our homes of pests and and we are free to eat animals and use them for work or companionship. We are free to kill an animal who means us harm. But other than such a circumstance, we are trusted by Gd to be decent to animals. Context matters. There is no need to kill ants in an anthill out in the woods, but if they invade our homes, it’s fair to kill them.
I see this situation as something that is sad but happened. I’m sorry that animal had to die but humans before animals, and this was a situation where this had to happen. If the person was a neurotypical adult, I would have preferred they use a tranquilizer, but since it was a helpless child (or if it had been a disabled adult), this had to happen. I am not that interested in this story because it was a freak thing and I don’t think it will keep happening. I assume they will make the enclosure safer for kids.
*in the Torah we are not to seethe a kid in its mother’s milk. This is the reason we don’t eat meat and dairy together. You have killed a lamb, or a calf, and you are going to eat it. The mother cow or sheep is desolate, longing for her baby. Her udders are overflowing with milk for her baby. It would be cruel to use her milk to cook the baby in. This is obviously focusing on EMOTIONAL cruelty for animals, so the Bible definitely feels animals have rights.
“I do think animals should have some basic rights.”
Perhaps they should.
But they don’t, and it is the worst sort of lunacy to think they do.