Frightened Zoo Visitors Trapped

nytimes / CC

This week, visitors to the Bronx Zoo found themselves hanging above ground inside tiny, cramped tram cars for roughly five hours because of a malfunction on the "Skyfari" ride. Cars containing zoo patrons, including children and a pre-diabetic, were suspended over the animal enclosures as they waited for help.

Let me recap for the irony-impaired: People who came to look at animals stuck in cages ended up stuck cages themselves.

For perhaps the first time since their capture (or births in captivity), the residents of the pens below the tram tracks had reason to feel grateful for their enclosures' sizes—they at least had walking room (albeit it nothing like freedom), while the human animals were confined to 4-by-5-foot boxes. On the other hand, the human animals had liberty and exercise of free will to look forward to, which was not the case for the Bronx Zoo's permanent "residents."

Some stranded patrons saw the connection, according to The New York Times, which ran the story.

One such visitor walked away with a better understanding of how the animals must feel: "You have no say in what happens to you. You lose all control," she told the Times. Another man said, "It's a good lesson to humanity. They're now afraid, they're now vulnerable. Humanity needs to learn humility. They're not masters of the universe. They're part of the natural world."

What bizarre role reversal will come next? Will meat kill people? Oh, wait ....

Posted by Sean Conner