|
by Ed Stoddard
JOHANNESBURG: A South African mugger fleeing the
scene of his crime hides in a tiger enclosure.
On the country's coast, a woman attempts to be a good
Samaritan by pushing a young seal into the sea,
believing the poor thing is stranded.
Both people paid heavily for their stupidity,
underscoring one of nature's truisms: humans do dumb
things around wild animals.
"I blame it on Walt Disney, where animals are given
human qualities. People don't understand that a wild
animal is not something that is nice to pat. It can
seriously harm you," said James Cameron, a South African
professional hunter.
The cartoon image of wildlife may have prompted a
49-year-old South African woman in October to try to
help a seal which she believed was stranded, allowing
her one-year-old grandchild to stroke the creature in
the process.
The seal responded by biting off the woman's nose.
Cape Fur Seals are common on South African shores and
many have become accustomed to humans.
They are a popular tourist attraction and can be
viewed playing in the sea by Cape Town's waterfront -
which may also give a false impression of placid
friendliness.
"Cute" seal pups have also been used as potent
symbols by groups such as the International Fund for
Animal Welfare, further enhancing the animal's "cuddly
status".
But they can in fact be dangerous and sometimes
attack people who venture too close - as South Africa's
noseless do-gooder discovered to her horror.
Then there was the South African robber who made the
mistake last month of taking refuge in an enclosure
which turned out to be home to a pair of unimpressed
tigers.
He had fled into a nearby zoo after security guards
heard the screams of a couple he had just mugged in
Bloemfontein, about 400km southwest of Johannesburg.
He was mauled to death by the big cats.
Max, a 200kg gorilla, won fame in 1997 after being
wounded by a terrified gunman who jumped a moat into his
space in Johannesburg's zoo while fleeing police.
Max pinned the fugitive against the wall of his
enclosure and guarded him even after being shot until
police arrived, making him an instant folk hero in
crime-ridden South Africa.
Other people don't realise that you shouldn't get
between a mother and her offspring.
In April of this year, an elephant gored a tourist to
death in a Ugandan national park after the man, carrying
an eight-year-old boy in his arms, approached the
animal's calf.
"I think many people are just far removed from
nature.
"People who live in cities often see nature as
something that is tame and manageable," said Sue
Lieberman, director of the global species programme for
conservation group WWF International.
Then there are the show-offs.
Lions mauled a South African teenager in March who
came too close to their enclosure while trying to
impress his girlfriend.
The 16-year-old, his girlfriend and his mother were
having lunch with the lion keeper when he ignored advice
and went off with his girlfriend to see the lions in the
breeding section of the park just north of Johannesburg.
The boy went into an area off-limits to the public
and touched a lion through the mesh fence.
The lion quickly sank its teeth into his arm and
dragged him under the fence before the curator came,
drove the four adult lions in the enclosure away and
rescued the teenager.
"It just shows a total disregard and disrespect for
wild animals," said Cameron. |
