I am angry: Two lions killed because a man tried to commit suicide

This is bad. This makes me mad. It is bad zoo management, bad social care, and stupidity in my opinion. God it pisses me off.

A man aged 20 jumps into or broke into the lion enclosure at Santiago’s Metropolitan Zoo. First thing that pisses me off: how was he allowed to break into this enclosure? This must be due to poor systems.

Then, the took his clothes off and waited to be killed by the lions. It has all the signs of a suicide attempt.

The lions attacked and mauled him. On the orders of the zoo director, Alejandra Montalba, zookeepers shot both the lions dead.

She was following an “established protocol”. She says that the lives or people are important to her. Why should human lives be at risk in her damnable zoo in the first place?

She said the lions had to be shot because there were no fast acting tranquillisers available. Are there fast acting tranquillisers available in better zoos? I can’t find a good answer on the internet but surely there is a better solution to shooting dead two lions just because a deranged man presented himself to them to be killed by them? I have not heard of this sort of outcome at other zoos. There are better protocols.

Can’t zoos do better than this? How much of a failure is this? It is a fail on so many levels. Allowing a person to get amongst lions and then killing the lions to protect a man who wants to die. It seems mad to me.

I’d have preferred an outcome whereby the man died and the lions lived. That would have met the desires of the three participants of this tragedy: the man and the two lions.

This zoo director is no good in my opinion. Poor management.

As for the man: he is still alive but severely injured in hospital. A suicide note was found on him. This man annoys me as well but you can’t blame him if he is mentally ill but you can blame those who are meant to care for him. His actions killed two lions. I am sorry if he is mentally ill but the systems in Chile have let him and the lions down.



18 thoughts on “I am angry: Two lions killed because a man tried to commit suicide”

  1. The author of the best comment will receive an Amazon gift of their choice at Christmas! Please comment as they can add to the article and pass on your valuable experience.
  2. Michael,I recently saw a video of an obviously deranged Chinese man who entered the lions’ enclosure and was attacked. Possibly BBC, Beijing. They tranquilized the lions & got the man out.

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    • Thanks Nicole. Good. In the past I have heard of zookeepers distracting lions too. It is possible to avoid killing lions under these circumstances.

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      • They could have perhaps turned the vacuum cleaner on.
        Something along the line of a flash bang perhaps. Considering the lions were on the man I can’t see how that would be more dangerous that firing live ammo into that mix. All zoos, well most have the containment area for the animals usually though a door. This allows access for treatment and to empty the enclosure for cleaning and maintenance.
        In slight defense of the zookeepers. Who is expecting someone to jump in naked and make like a human sacrifice.

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        • Yes, distraction like that could have provided a temporary window to save the man but he wanted to die and now he is saved with probably life changing injuries. The fact he got in indicates a weakness in security systems.

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  3. Do not want to offend anyone.
    But, this is just another reason for zoos and circuses to be shut down. They are managed by incompetents, most with less than an 8th grade education, nowhere near a degree in any animal expertise.

    Like most zoos, they are ill equipped and brainless to deal with emergencies. Has there ever been an interview with anyone claiming to “be in charge” that could be scrutinized?

    As I would say to this 20 y/o man or anyone wishing to end their lives…
    It’s your choice. I’m sorry. But, leave any other person or animal out of it. This is only about YOU. Goodbye!

    Reply
    • It makes one wonder … if you were forced (by law and lawsuits) to leave the world of nursing. Self-evident sociopaths should never be put in charge of the well-being of any other living things and removed from all contact with other living things — for life.

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        • You don’t seem to be very well educated, so let me help you — as well as helping all those that have the misfortune of trying to learn anything from your relentless deceptions and misinformation. (I suspect now that someone found-out that you didn’t have the required educational background to be a nurse at one time.)

          Did you know that your cats are now even spreading bird-flu? If a cat kills a bird with bird-flu it spread the bird-flu to its owners, care-takers, and all other cats in its colony.

          “Cats have been implicated as potential vectors of other diseases not historically associated with felines, including SARS and H1N1 and H5N1 avian influenza as evidenced by natural and experimental infection of domestic cats (Kuiken et al., 2004; Songserm et al., 2006; Thiry et al., 2007; Anonymous, 2011). In the experimentally infected cats, excreted virus was transmitted to sentinel cats demonstrating horizontal transmission and suggesting cats can be involved in epidemiology and transmission of the virus (Kuiken et al., 2004). Cats have been infected with H5N1 through ingestion or close contact of infected birds as well as intratracheal and intra-oral infection of a human isolated virus strain (Thiry et al., 2007). Additionally, cats have been found to be subclinically infected with H5N1 (Leschnik et al., 2007) … “

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          • You’re boring me now, Jim, with the same old dribble.
            You betcha’! After over 35 years in practice, I was found to be a fraud? IDIOT!!!!
            You are the fraud, Jim. Those who followed you on your expeditions described you as knowledgeable but very rude and not a people person. They hated you. Hating you supercedes any good that you could have ever done.
            You are hated even by peers, Jim. Get it! You are hated!
            Please get your sorry -ss out of my state and back to Texas to face whatever is waiting.

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  4. It’s pretty insane that a zoo has guns with bullets available, but not tranquilizer guns. What’s the thinking? Or is there much? It’s a very sad affair to lose two lions to a man who no longer wants to live. At least the lions are free. What will become of this man? Will his life be somehow turned around? A seriously mentally disturbed person won’t be able to make a drastic shift in perception, and will more than likely be put on heavy meds and institutionalized for his immediate safety and that of others, both human and animal.

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  5. Dear Michael_ You are correct. This scenario could have turned out much different. The zoo has issues and security is lax.
    Although the man was acting crazy and may have wanted to die_
    I wonder where his family or friends were, or if he had anyone at all?

    Damned insane to kill a wild animal we caged for being what it is> a wild animal.

    Why would any zoo or other animal enclosure not have fast & effective Tranquilizers at their facility?

    Eva

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    • All the point you make I agree with. There is so much wrong with this at a fundamental level. All of the problems are man-made.

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  6. One news feed said the zookeepers hit the man with a tranquilizer dart trying to hit the lions. I am not impressed with the ‘ enclosure’.
    I know we differ in our opinion on zoos. There are standards that should be mandatory and that cage was not an example of how captive animals should live. Zoo’s in the modern world are for learning. Not entertainment. They are also sadly the DNA repository for species that despite the best efforts are hovering on the edge of extinction.
    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/zoo-chile-where-humans-are-cages-lions-are-top-1472605 I am not sure this is the same zoo but if so they set the lions up to behave as they did.

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    • Thanks ME for the extra information. Neither am I impressed with a lion enclosure that a visitor can get into. How could this happen. The lions are innocent victims of errant human behavior. This is so typical of humans.

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      • To me, it is all important how this young man got in. Obviously, the secured areas weren’t secured at all.
        But, he seemed hell bent on ending his life. So be it.
        There are so many more alternatives than entering a lions’ den that would be quick and relatively painless to snuff yourself out.

        Reply

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