Bears Pay For Parental Negligence
353 words.
There’s nothing interesting happening nationally, so I thought I’d mention a local outrage here in Richmond.
Two black bears at Maymont Park were just euthanized to examine their brain tissue for the possibility of rabies after one of them bit a 4-year-old boy.
Sounds pretty straightforward right? Not quite. Apparently, one of the boy’s parents helped him climb over a 4-foot wooden fence-ignoring the clearly posted warning signs-so he could get closer to the bears. Then the boy put his hand through a chain-link fence, and one of the bears bit him. It is thought that the child either had an apple or had the scent of apples on his hands. The boy was taken to a hospital and treated for scratches. He didn’t even get stitches.
Unfortunately, fearing rabies, the hospital was obligated to report the animal bite incident to the Virginia Department of Health and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. They in turn went to Maymont, who hadn’t even known about the bite. Despite neither bear having shown any signs of rabies, everyone involved decided that the bears had to be put down so they could examine their brain tissue for the (extremely remote) possibility of rabies.
Neither bear had rabies.
If I were those boy’s parents, I would strongly consider moving to a different state. The general feeling around Richmond is that they should, at the very least, be investigated by Child Protective Services. A lot of people are calling for Maymont to bring a lawsuit against them for damages. I tend to favor just lynching them in the street. (Hey, it works for Muslims.)
Luckily for them, the boy’s name hasn’t been publicized yet. But I can’t wait until some reporter tracks them down and sticks a microphone in their faces and asks, “so how does it feel to know that the entire city of Richmond thinks you are horrible, horrible people and wants you to pay dearly for causing the deaths of two completely innocent black bears in a public park?”
Hundreds remember Maymont bears
Park’s two bears killed after bite
Sorry, new comments are disabled on older posts. This helps reduce spam. Active commenting almost always occurs within a day or two of new posts.