Emasher Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 I'd say. Fine the parents and force them to take a parenting course. Its possible that the CCTV cameras weren't being watched. A lot of places have them just to review if there is a problem. I'm sure a lot of 7 year olds would do this if they got the chance to do so. Though, a 7 year old is usually intelligent enough to know what they're doing is wrong in a case like this, I'm not sure they would. 7 is still too young to legally punish though. If you do that when someone is young enough, they will get into the system and have quite a hard time getting out. Instead, its best to help them. What they need to do is find out why the kid did this and proceed depending on that.
Raining_again Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 I think people are over reacting a bit.. Its not the childs fault. He just went with curiosity. My cousin is about that age, and it wouldn't surprise me if he did silly things at that age to push boundaries or just to see what would happen.. Besides... crocs eat animals like that in the wild all the time o_o I'd be more pointing towards the parents/security than anyone else tbh.
Jonnas Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 ... is really just pissing on the intelligence of a 7 year old. The intelligence level many of you believe him to have is more fitting for a 3-4 year old than a 7 year old. You'd be surprised with the amount of kids that don't think before they act. I think we can all agree that the parents are to blame here.
Raining_again Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 You'd be surprised with the amount of kids that don't think before they act. I think we can all agree that the parents are to blame here. Yeah a 7 year old is DEFINITELY not old enough to look after himself.
Dannyboy-the-Dane Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 Of course a 7 year old shouldn't be punished, nor is he at fault here. A 7 year old can't take responsibility for actions like these, the parents are obviously to blame here. I still find it hard to believe that the average 7 year old would not have just a faint idea that this is wrong, though.
weeyellowbloke Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 This kid wasn't "insane" and wont grow up to be a psycho. I used to feed live crickets to my geckos when I was about that age and used to get a lot of pleasure out of watching. It wasn't morbid or weird anymore than watching a lion hunting on a nature show on tv. I just felt a certain satisfaction in watching a live animal feed. Likewise one of my most vivid memories from childhood was seeing a wild snake catch and eat a frog. Now I'm all grown up and haven't turned into a nutter and don't have psychological issues. I haven't killed anyone that I've been caught for. Anyway to sum up I think Jay's right and we should lay off the kid and wonder instead what kind of zoo is easy enough for a seven year old to break into and get near a crocodile. That's some serious lack of security and safety. Also what kind of parents fail to notice this happening.
Jonnas Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 I still find it hard to believe that the average 7 year old would not have just a faint idea that this is wrong, though. Maybe he had an idea that it was against the rules, but unless given a solid reason, he didn't see anything wrong in trying to feed a crocodile. Sure, he was taking a risk in his own safety, but kids also put themselves in danger all the time. If you're talking about stealing the lizards, then yeah, the kid needs some spanking. Taking pets from other people is just wrong and he should know that.
mario114 Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 He's parrents have done a pretty rubbish job at looking after him; who leaves a 7 year old alone? Would not want to meet that kid when he's grown up... hehe. Bet the croc was happy though.
Dannyboy-the-Dane Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 Maybe he had an idea that it was against the rules, but unless given a solid reason, he didn't see anything wrong in trying to feed a crocodile.Sure, he was taking a risk in his own safety, but kids also put themselves in danger all the time. If you're talking about stealing the lizards, then yeah, the kid needs some spanking. Taking pets from other people is just wrong and he should know that. Maybe he knew or had a feeling it was wrong and explored that? Children are attracted by forbidden stuff exactly because it's forbidden. Heck, many adults still are.
Fierce_LiNk Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 This is all bollocks. I work with children as young as 7 and trust me they know exactly what they are doing. They know how to get their own way and they know what will happen if they do things. I also work with children, and you're clearly a fool if you think that all kids are the same. I can simply say that a child in one school, town, culture, environment has a different idea of responsibility and morals than another. Not all kids know by that age what is right or wrong. Do you need to be told that feeding live animals to a crocodile is wrong for a child to acknowledge that? Not necessarily, children discover their boundaries through experience. If that child was 3 times his age, it would be seen in a whole different light, because a person by that age has developed their own set of morals, knows the implications of their crime, and has developed a greater sense of what is right or wrong. Like others have said, the child hasn't developed a great sense of responsibility. 7 years old is not very old at all. What bothers me is that a child, a 7 year old child, was able to find himself in such a situation as this. Why wasn't he/she supervised? Why was the security so shockingly bad, and where were his/her parents?
Slaggis Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 That's a picture of him throwing a turtle over an enclosure wall. After reading more news storys about the event, it says it was a "rock" that he used to "bludgeon" the animals to death. Come on, I don't see how none of you can say this kid isn't even slightly disturbed even when putting his age into consideration. Obviously the up-bringing of the child is to blame, which is why the parents are having a lawsuit brought against them.
Jonnas Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 A rock? Okay, I'm confused as to why he killed those animals. I suppose if they were fast, he'd have to kill them before bringing them to the crocodile. I suppose that's the only reasonable explanation. Besides the whole "plenty of kids kill bugs/other animals for fun" thing, of course. I still don't think the kid has mental issues. Many kids would do something similar if given the chance. It's just that those kids don't have the combination of distracted parents and incompetent zoo.
Bren Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 who really cares? its a bunch of lizards he killed not people, its a childs mistake, he'll come to realise its a bad thing to do once he gets a little older. arnt there kids in under-developed countrys that are part of militias killing people, and everyone seems so shocked over a couple of animals being fed to another animal. Stupid!
Ramar Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 who really cares? its a bunch of lizards he killed not people, its a childs mistake, he'll come to realise its a bad thing to do once he gets a little older. arnt there kids in under-developed countrys that are part of militias killing people, and everyone seems so shocked over a couple of animals being fed to another animal. Stupid! Always rely on Skunky to bring the reality check.
S.C.G Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 It's still fucked up... but then what can you do? most kids are dragged up not brought up these days, sorry but it's mostly true and yeah so it wasn't people that were killed but I wouldn't be surprised if that kid ends up killing a person a few years down the line "just to see" the effects as he did to those reptiles. There are no excuses for it, the kid is messed up even if he was poorly brought up he would still have at least some basic concept of right or wrong, still this news doesn't really surprise or shock me, it just sickens me to hear of yet another example of a completely needless act of apathy. Hence most of the time I try to ignore stuff like this seeing as theres nothing that can be done about it anyway.
MoogleViper Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 I also work with children, and you're clearly a fool if you think that all kids are the same. I can simply say that a child in one school, town, culture, environment has a different idea of responsibility and morals than another. Not all kids know by that age what is right or wrong. Do you need to be told that feeding live animals to a crocodile is wrong for a child to acknowledge that? Not necessarily, children discover their boundaries through experience. If that child was 3 times his age, it would be seen in a whole different light, because a person by that age has developed their own set of morals, knows the implications of their crime, and has developed a greater sense of what is right or wrong. Like others have said, the child hasn't developed a great sense of responsibility. 7 years old is not very old at all. What bothers me is that a child, a 7 year old child, was able to find himself in such a situation as this. Why wasn't he/she supervised? Why was the security so shockingly bad, and where were his/her parents? I wasn't saying that they were all the same. Or that they have the same morals. But they know what they are doing. Most people on here seemed to think that 7 year olds don't realise what they are doing. That's more fitting of a 3 year old.
jayseven Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 Bleh. So I don't know how a 7-year-old precisely thinks, but I know I'm not being illogical or blinkered. I know this kid's no Damien.
Dannyboy-the-Dane Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 The key word here is upbringing. He should have been brought up to know how wrong this is.
MoogleViper Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 When you're 7 you do what you feel like. What? Maybe you were a socially retarded child but when I was 7 I did what I thought was right.
Emasher Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 Is it possible that the parents put the kid to bed and then went to sleep and the kid snuck out. Or perhaps somehow "escaped" when his parents weren't looking? I know when I was 7 my parents didn't watch me 24/7. And I'm sure that's true for everyone. I can see the kid perhaps liking the zoo a lot and deciding he would go there. After he got there he perhaps thought the crocodile looked hungry and decided to feed it, or perhaps he was "playing zoo keeper" and decided to feed the animals. He probably assumed it would just eat any animal, and since the only animals in sight were the other exhibits, he probably didn't think twice about using them. It would be pretty easy to find out what happened with the killing the animals with a rock by reviewing the security tapes.
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