Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-05-20
Zoo Tragedy

loused attitudes that Wash
ington officialdom has hurled
into the public's teeth in the
wake of the ZOO tragedy in
which a tot was msuled to
death by lions.
United States Attorney
oliver Gasch said there was
no evidence Of criminal neg
ligence. The absence of a
child-proof fence in the prox-
unity Of the cages was what.
If not negligence? Perhaps
not criminal" but certainly
a blamable neglect. 1t is true.
perhaps, also, that no one
person could be held liable.
yet the neglect must be laid
to the city, the District, the
Smithsonian Institution, and
all the pepole resident within
the limits Of the governing
units.
Then ]. Lear Grimmer, the
Zoos associate director, de-
clared: "It is the first trag-
edy of its kind" here, as
If such tragedies were COM
mon and elsewhere to be an
ticipated. 1t could have been
avoided.
AS to the destruction of
the lions, Mr.. Grimmer asks
What good would that .do?"
The question is germane
only as to the Zoo. In the
psychological effect on the
baby's surviving family, and
sister who saw the tragedy, 1t
is quite another matter. It
raises the question if de-
struction Of the beasts would
have a beneficial effect. If it
would, the survivors surely
are entitled to it.
Earl Scoop Shutz.
$3.50
The fact that the little
girl was able to enter the
area shows there was q fail
ure to provide adequate pro-
lection for the little visitors
a ZOO is especially meant for.
Despite U. S. Attorney Oil
yer GaSch's conclusion that
there was no evidence of
criminal negligence. I hope
that he and Zoo officials will
do right by their consciences
and provide the necessary
protection for children so
that mothers like myself can
have piece of mind when
their youngsters visit the
Zoo.
Mrs. EdwardO de Alba.
+ = \
In reading the accounts OF
the tragic accident which oc-
Cured at the Zoo recently,
when 21a-year-old Judy Vogt
slipped through the protec-
tive bars surrounding the
lions cage and was killed.
much skepticism has been
expressed as to whether it is
possible for q child to get
through so small q space. 1t
is indeed possible. One after
noon 81 years ago more or
less my husband and I were
at the Zoo with our son, at
that time slightly less than
three years old. We had no
other child with us; we were
both on the alert for the
child's safety, but completely
without warning he slipped
through the bars surrounding
the bears cage and was
starting for the cage itself
when my husband seized him
and dragged him back. That
a child that age could get
through the bars was attested
by the fact that my husband.
without the slightest diff
Guilty, hauled him to safety.
did not report this incl
dent at the time. partly be-
cause the outcome was for
tunate, partly because it
seemed to us, as it apparently
does to everyone else, that an
occurrence like that bordered
on the impossible. However,
it can happen. it has hap
pened, and 1 think Zoo Off
Gals should recognize the
fact.
Cornelia M. Lee.
4
1t is regrettable that my
first letter to an editor is
prompted by such a terrible
tragedy as the death of Julia
Vogt at the Washington Zoo.
The sympathy of all parents
is extended to the family of
the little girl whose friendli-
ness for animals resulted in
her death.
/ am certain there will be
a demand for the execution
of the lion that dragged the
little girl to her death. But
is this the answer? 1t is in
the nature Of such beasts to
kill. They are Gagged because
of their ferocity. They can
hardly be blamed for action