Miscellaneous

Zoo Animal Demonstrates Need for Security of Perimeter

By Anne Skove, Esq.

How far should court security extend, geographically? Does it begin and end at the x-ray machine in the hall? Does it stop at the front door? The courthouse steps?

Anyone who's ever walked a frightened client to her car knows that court security needs to include the parking area. People in the know -- anti-domestic violence advocates, consultants, and law enforcement -- have been saying this for years, but it takes a gibbon to drive the point home.

A man who visited the Cincinnati Zoo hoping to volunteer was surprised by a gibbon. It's not too surprising to see a gibbon at the zoo, you're thinking. True; we can hear their whooping from our house, several blocks away. They live on an island and climb on a bamboo jungle gym all day long, much like our own children do.

And like children, these animals sometimes escape their safe havens and wander into parking lots.

This particular gibbon, reportedly an ornery old male Lar, bit the would-be volunteer on the leg.

This is why a moat, a fence, and other safety features inside the zoo are not necessarily enough. The parking lot, too, requires some sort of protection. On our last two visits, we saw peacocks ambling around between parked cars like teenagers looking for a tailgate party. We will not even discuss the behavior of squirrels and wall lizards, both of whom should be tightly regulated.

So, let this be a lesson to us all -- and happy safe parking to you and yours.

See Ape Bites Zoo Visitor, Peggy O'Farrell, Cincinnati Enquirer (August 22, 2008).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on August 22, 2008 (boomark / email).