- AZA zoo has second public visitor breach into animal exhibits.
Published by -NAWA News Feed- in - AZA Incidents and News - · Sunday 16 Oct 2022
Visitors disregarded the security precautions in place and entered an animal enclosure once more at the AZA accredited El Paso Zoo. The event took place on Wednesday, October 12.
Two children can be seen climbing on a boulder that is a part of the sun bear cage in a social media snapshot that is posted below. The event was documented on Instagram by FitFam El Paso, who said that "minors [entered] the sun bear enclosure...while the animals were feet away."
Visitors bypassed the public barriers at the Sun Bear exhibit.
Joe Montisano, director of the El Paso Zoo, down played to a local television station that the rock wall the children were scaling is really outside the exhibit, not inside it. He continued by saying that the kids were never in danger because the bear was never that near to them.
The phrases "I swear some people don't deserve to be parents," "this is why we can't have pleasant things," and "I blame hot Cheeto girl" were all used in social media comments.
Sun Bear, (Helarctos malayanus)
The final one is a reference to the woman who, in May 2021, broke into the enclosure housing the spider monkeys and was caught on camera feeding them Cheetos.
Visitor climbs in Spider Monkey exhibit to feed them.
All of the major networks, print media, and even international news outlets covered the story. Although the zoo did pursue charges against her, Monkey Girl, sorry, I mean Luz Elizabeth Rae, has not changed her ways a year later.
Her actions caused the fence around the exhibit of spider monkeys to change. According to the zoo director, this most recent breach will probably necessitate fortifying the sun bear habitat as well.
Just after the USDA responded to the May 2021 spider monkey incident, this inspectors report found the barriers adequate, thus setting a compliance standard to the very vague regulations regarding barriers.
However, under the federal regulations for non-human primates in zoos’;
- Section § 3.78 - Outdoor housing facilities, (e) Public barriers.
Fixed public exhibits housing nonhuman primates, such as zoos, must have a barrier between the primary enclosure and the public at any time the public is present, in order to restrict physical contact between the public and the nonhuman primates. Nonhuman primates used in trained animal acts or in uncaged public exhibits must be under the direct control and supervision of an experienced handler or trainer at all times when the public is present. Trained nonhuman primates may be allowed physical contact with the public, but only if they are under the direct control and supervision of an experienced handler or trainer at all times during the contact.
I guess we will have to see how the inspectors "call" this one.