March 12, 2019 — A Reader’s Forum article by Denise Lane Painter
THE DAILY RANT
I’ve seen a number of news stories in the last few months about people doing stupid shit to get selfies. People have fallen off cliffs, off waterfalls, have been mauled by wild animals, and have all sorts of other accidents.
It shouldn’t be necessary to say this, but I guess I need to: Stop doing stupid shit. Zoo animals are STILL wild animals. In many cases, their cages aren’t to protect you, but to protect them from your stupid shit. If you feel it necessary to climb a fence at a zoo or stand at the apex of a swollen river as it flies out over a 200-foot cliff and take a picture of yourself, you’re a narcissist and you need help.
Also, when you do stupid shit like this, you don’t only put yourself at risk, you put others at risk. Animals who prey are also territorial. They figure if you step into their space, you want to be eaten, and they will be happy to accommodate you. The only problem is that, in most cases, they’re put down for doing what they do naturally. Luckily, in this case, that isn’t going to happen.
When you do the waterfall stuff and your dumb ass falls over the waterfall, a lot of good people have to risk their lives to find your body and return it to your family.
As for the stupid tourist, she’s apologized and admitted that she was stupid, and her biggest regret – get this – is that the video of her attack went viral “without her permission”. This from the woman trying to take a selfie with a wild jaguar.
YouTube video below is graphic and may disturb some viewers
Smack forehead in frustration: The jaguar is quoted as saying, as he gnaws on his bottle, “Just cleaning the gene pool for ya folks.”
Denise Lane Painter
Note from Elisa
For those not familiar with this story, a woman in her 30s has apologized after she climbed over a barrier at a zoo near Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday to take a selfie with a jaguar, who wound up clawing her. Today the woman has changed her opinion and says she should have been better protected from the big cat. Stupid is as stupid does. I loved Denise’s ‘rant’ and think it should be shared with everyone, including selfie addicts.
I don’t disagree with any of these comments and I’ll just say that common sense is something you show over time I think. Looking over my own behavior, I’ve had no compulsion to aggrandize myself by collecting or posting any selfies or videos me posing or doing anything anywhere, ever. I can’t stand to be looked at, which has made some things difficult, like sharing knowledge. That, in contrast to what many of these people feel compelled to do these days is evident of two extremes and possibly whether you’re a narcissist I think. Nature has a way of dealing with it. If one never learned and can’t stop themself before they suffer some loss, hopefully it becomes a learning experience at long last.
All zoos have rules posted. Things like not reaching through barriers or climbing them or teasing the animals. Regardless of how you feel about zoos this woman leaned through the barrier and stuck her phone in the cat’s face and got a good mauling for it. We can’t idiot proof the world folks.
Harambe was not killed because the zoo and staff were unsure of what he might do to the child. He was shot because of idiot parents who didn’t supervise their child. Something else often seen on rules when entering a wildlife park, sanctuary or zoo. The only reason this big cat isn’t dead is someone managed to distract him otherwise zoo staff would have shot her dead.
I’m old enough to remember the old zoos where there was fence and then the cage in small zoos. Oddly there wasn’t an issue with idiots reaching through the bars.
Some people are just too stupid to live.
She was a fucking idiot for doing this in the first place!! She deserved exactly what she got!! Humans who take selfies make me sick! And seriously the crying and the drama that she does on the video is just too much! Stop your fucking wailing. You did this to yourself. No one feels sorry for you! I say just shoot the bitch in the head and than we have one less asshole in the world!!
They are stupid and it’s a modern craze. Is it about self promotion and 15 minutes of fame? Is it about getting social media hits and instant celebrity?
I’m very happy the cat won’t be killed over this. The woman attacked stating there should be better safety standards in place, I agree. Visitors should be monitored for stupidity and not allowed around dangerous animals.
All wildlife parks , zoos etc post rules for visitor behavior.
I might add that what would this woman’s excuse be for jamming her arm into a yard with a dog because she wanted to get a picture of it and was bitten. Are the owners supposed to build a moat around their property ? There was a horrific case many decades ago now where a woman driving through a rural area stopped put her toddler over a fence to take a picture with a horse. The child was either maimed or killed don’t remember. The parent didn’t prevail in court.