this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2024
525 points (97.5% liked)

World News

39019 readers
2186 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News [email protected]

Politics [email protected]

World Politics [email protected]


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Summary

A baby red panda named Roxie at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland died from “stress caused by fireworks” after choking on her vomit, just days after her mother’s sudden death.

The incident, occurring around the U.K.’s Bonfire Night celebrations, has led to renewed calls for stricter fireworks regulations.

A petition with over a million signatures urging restrictions on public fireworks sales was submitted to the U.K. government.

Edinburgh recently implemented limited fireworks control zones, but animal welfare advocates argue for broader measures to prevent similar tragedies.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 93 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I'm dubious. Mom dies suddenly, then baby dies suddenly after choking on it's own vomit. Yeah, no, let's blame the fireworks. Surely, nothing else could be the cause of Red Panda deaths at this zoo.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I had a whole thing earlier but was mistaken, the baby was 3 months old not a newborn. Either way, I still don't doubt that fireworks could easily stress out a very young animal and be the tipping point of their health.

I'm not sure what could motivate them to make a grand conspiracy against fireworks, rather than the more likely result of them being exhausted and frustrated caretakers who, like any pet owner, probably spent that evening trying to calm the panda down only to watch it panic until it died. Stress vomiting isn't really rare for animals on the 4th of July. It's just the extreme end of stress.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I'm not saying that it's a conspiracy against fireworks, but possibly a problem with the habitat, food, or something else that would cause big issues for the zoo if discovered. The fireworks were convenient. I have zero evidence for this other than the fact that a lot of zoos are complete cesspools, and so I typically don't trust "suddenly died" followed three days later by another "suddenly died" regardless of how many fireworks were launched off.

Also, there is this line:

Roxie had access to her den but the frightening noises seem to have been too much for her.

Seems like the zoo just left a weak animal to suffer instead of taking precautions to assure that the panda was placed in a safe location. It makes me doubt that anyone was even there, and that the zookeepers returned the following day to a dead red panda and tried to cover it up.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

"I have zero evidence for this..."

Says it all really.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

That's fair, I definitely jumped to the "they wanna take away fireworks" conspiracy on my end, too much arguing on the Internet for me this week >.<

I do hope they look into it. I just know how freaked out my pets have been in the past, inconsolable at times, so the fireworks being a real factor wouldn't surprise me. I'd hope they would have meds to help calm the animals, but I wonder if they were too young for them, or had a dosage issue.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

Whether or not it was the direct cause in this case, fireworks cause a lot of animals a lot of stress and deaths do come from it.

I don't see why anyone needs to be able to buy explosives to use at home, firework shows should be organised in set locations and should use low noise fireworks as much as possible.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Maybe they should have called some vet experts to investigate. Oh wait that is exactly what they did but I am sure people on the internets know more about animals. Not a big fan of zoos but people who armchair are magnitudes worse.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

And no medical professional has ever been found to be biased in their opinion. And no reporter ever misrepresented what someone said to make a more sensational article. Stress is not a well understood thing. There is no test for confirming the source of stress. And the vets aren't saying their is. Did the fireworks contribute, sure I would trust a vet who says that, and it was probably what they actually said. But a babies Mom dieing, and not being there to comfort the baby from the stress of fireworks is probably a bigger contributor. Also read a little further down where the expert says we can't rule out fireworks as the cause. That is totally different. Seems like the vets don't agree.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

right and random strangers on the internet are completely unbiased and generally reasonable? It does not give one enough reason to completely disregard experts'opinions. vets are saying that it probably is a contributing factor whereas people in this thread are claiming that it is the zoo who is trying to cover up for bad conditions and negligence in the zoo. tell me which one sounds more reasonable?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 hours ago

Neither one has to be correct. One experts opinion is that they couldn't rule it out. That sounds reasonable. I do think that the zoo bares some responsibility for bringing such a fragile species into a city. Zoo's do a lot of good too. But they knew there would be fireworks. Where were they? Why wasn't someone there to take the baby to it's enclosure. Or sedate it during the fireworks. People do more for their adult dogs than the zoo did for this baby. I don’t think it's a cover up or anything. They have lot's of experts. They quoted the one that said the most sensational thing. I am not saying disregard the experts, I am saying a hand picked (by people with an agenda) sample size of one is not evidence of anything. I am willing to bet if you took a poll of all of the experts at that zoo, you would get a much less confident opinion, more like the "can't rule it out" than the "fireworks killed the baby" person.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They didn't call in an outside vet to investigate. The fucking zoo keepers are vets. The zoo keepers are telling you what happened. You can believe them or not, but it's not accountability.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Check under the vet team here:

https://www.rzss.org.uk/conservation/meet-the-team

Professors, veterinary surgeons, veterinary nurses etc. Edinburgh zoo is not just your run of the mill local village zoo. So sorry buddy, I am sure you will understand if I still trust the word of these people on the matter and not you, a random person with distaste against zoos (not a big fan either to be honest). I mean this is not just any field as well, this is zoology. People usually get into it because they love animals and such. It is not completely impossible for someone in this field to lie to cover up but now it is just your personal distaste against zoos and human kind vs several very well trained people on the field... As I said, I am not a big fan of zoos either and somewhat undecided about conservatories (which is what "Edinburgh Zoo" actually is) but that does not make people working there terrible lying scum bags.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

You're doing good work. It seems as though the only people who still appreciate actual expertise, are the experts themselves. Nobody can discern fiction from reality anymore.