Topic: A couple of things.

[Todd]

Of course this morning after I've took my snow tires off my car it snowed. Awesome.

Also, I've been to the Zoo. Many times. I've never felt the need to jump into the cage with them. Why woman thought she could jump in with the polar bears, while feeding no less, is beyond me. Idiotic woman. Truly a missed Darwin moment to strengthen the species.

[Jianna]

1.  Did you get a lot of snow?

2.  Did this happen at the zoo in Spokane??

[Todd]

1. About an inch and a half. Almost all was gone by midday.

2. No, in Germany. Spokane has no Zoo. Hasn't since Walk in the Wild Zoo closed. It was a bad zoo.

[Fyonah]

In Berlin. *nods* And this was the second time somebody tried this... last year a man wanted to get to Knut because he thought the bear had to feel as lonely as the guy himself after Thomas Doerflin, who raised Knut, had died from cancer. Luckily the keepers were fast enough to distract Knut from the man, so nothing happened.
There has been a discussion whether the polar bears in Berlin should get higher fences now, but that has already been discarded. According to zoo director Bernhard Blaszkiewitz the current ones keep people from falling in (by accident) perfectly well.

[Todd]

lol That is a funny argument. They're high enough for people not to accidentally fall in. Strange, I wonder if they used that argument for the Space Needle or on the Empire State buildings observation decks. Jumpers, so? At least they aren't accidentally falling off.

[MalorGradan]

1. Yeah, we got 7 inches here first week of April, which is highly unusual, and a flurry early Easter morning; set a few record lows that week, too. For the preceding three weeks we had high in the 70s and 80s and were setting record highs every few days.

No climate change? Hah!

2. The same reason why people show up in the ER with random objects lodged in their rectums: the fact that we are, on balance (and compared to, say, pandas) an intelligent species does not automatically absolve individual members of abject stupidity.

I mean, we're the species that invented American Idol, thermonuclear weapons, and sweetbreads. We're capable of profound evil and mind-boggling ignorance. Some people blow other people up, some people make their grandsons watch them prepare horrible organ-meat dishes, and some people jump into bear enclosures.

Frankly, sometimes I'm surprised we've made it this far. 

[Fyonah]

lol That is a funny argument. They're high enough for people not to accidentally fall in. Strange, I wonder if they used that argument for the Space Needle or on the Empire State buildings observation decks. Jumpers, so? At least they aren't accidentally falling off.

I found it quite funny, too. *nods* Guess it roots from the same opinion you gave, that anybody who jumps into the basin intentionally perhaps doesn't deserve anything better than the response from the bears. He doesn't seem to realize it IS his responsibility as zoo director to take care even of those who can't think straight on their own, and it would not only protect people from their own stupidity or recklessness but his polar bears from intruders, as well. Who knows what the person's intention is, anyway? On ten who think the bears are sweet and cuddly may follow one who hates them for some reason and tries to harm them in some way.