f13.net

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/02/01/zoo.death.ap/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

For god's sake.

And the boy gets a Darwin award!

You know, I just can't bring myself to be cavalier about the death of other people anymore. It just depresses the hell out of me. I feel bad for the kid and his family, but fuck, 100% of the fault falls on the kid. The kid did everything short of cross a minefield to get to the elephant.

Folks have expectations about animals that are just plain false.  Conventional wisdom is that elephants are happy, docile, carefree animals akin to housepets.  Truth is they're big, strong, mean and highly-territorial SOBs you just really shouldn't be around without training.   The story is depressing, and hopefuly the parents don't do something stupid like demand the animal is destroyed for doing nothing more than acting like an Elephant.

I can't feel to bad if a person even a young one is going to go to that lenght to go where its pretty obvious they are not supposed to be and gets squashed.


kaid

It could be that your only purpose in live is to serve as an example to others.

I actually find it funny when people injure themselves out of greed or stupidity. I'm thinking of the other night when I was torturing my girlfriend by watching Ted Nugent's reality show (heh). They played a game of 'chicken' where the contestants had to run at an oncoming truck, the farther they made it before they bailed out of the way, the more money they got.

The very first guy didn't bail out of the way, he jumped on the truck, smashing the windshield. Had to be taken away by an ambulance. Funniest thing I've seen in a while: greedy, stupid guy gets pwned.

Bottom line: if you circumvent safety measures, you takes your chances...ffs someone stop teaching kids that animals are cuddly storybook creatures. If that was America, it'd be plastered across every mainstream outlet as a human interest story and there'd be legislation on the table to institute new safety measures in zoos.

I can laugh about it, because the kid was a dumbass who was likely to get himself killed at some point down the line out of sheer dumbfuckery. At least he only took himself out, instead of doing something that killed him and all the friends riding in the car with him.

We need more dumbfucks to off themselves in spectacularly stupid ways to save us from the dumbfuckler effect.

He was only 13.  Geez, you people have no souls.

He used to call it the Disneyifaction of animals (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312186134/sr=1-1/qid=1138899255/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-3414695-4997433?%5Fencoding=UTF8).

Watching his video's on netflix right now. They are pretty entertaining in their low production values.

His writing is darn good though.

I love that despair.com website, I even bought a bunch of stuff.
(http://images.despair.com/products/demotivators/mistakes.jpg)

As far as the kid goes I think it's tragic, you should be allowed to be dumb as a kid without getting killed.  The ouch thread comes to mind.

Sorry, at 13 he should know better than to ignore all the warning signs, fences and shit just to feed mangos to a goddamn elephant. I have sympathy for the parents; it's not easy to realize you raised a dumbass too stupid to live. If he'd been 11, ok, I'd feel bad for the kid. By your teen years, you should know better. Teenagers take stupid risks all the time. My dad says their brain stems snap at 13 and grow back sometime after 21.

He could have only done something more stupid had he run into a predator's cage, or traffic.

Anyone who has read the book Fur linked would have a more than healthy respect for elephants. They are big and mean and very capable of turning you into a chunky marinara knockoff if they are so inclined.

Also- videos? I had no idea he did videos! Is it live hunting stuff?

I remember 13. Thirteen was middle school for god's sake. You're past the poke your finger in the outlet and touch the stove stage. Hell, you're two years from getting a learner's permit. You're learning early algebra at that stage, reading literature like "The Call of the Wild," and perhaps studying your first foreign language depending on what school you attend. Climbing over barriers to get near dangerous animals in the zoo was NOT something a normal kid would consider. That's not a mistake, that's rampant stupidity.

Below 10, I'd feel bad for the kid.

Above 10, the "destined to die stupidly" principle comes to mind.

btw, where were his parents as he was climbing over barricade after barricade to get to this elephant?  Off somewhere else?  Saying, "Go ahead, Johnny, I hear mangos are his favorite!"

Cause if they were present and knew it was dangerous, why didn't they physically stop him?

Yes - You even get to see some people shooting with his .375 H&H magnum with a fold-down scope. He looks too much like my grandpa so it makes me sad to watch them.

I hope they don't put down the elephant.

and I hope the kid didnt have learning difficulties or something because, yes, thats an exceptionally stupid act for a 13 year old.

If anyone should be put down it is the parents. Same as it ever was.