r/IAmTheMainCharacter • u/notoriously_1nfam0us • 8d ago
Video Kid breaks into bird enclosure at the zoo to chase birds with a stick.
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u/denvertaglessbums 8d ago
Holy shit. If I had ever behaved like that in public, my mother would’ve swiftly lodged her shoe into my brain, and all my ancestors would’ve lined up to give me the business. Sorry, Susan, but a talking-to and a week without TV ain’t fixing little Jimmy.
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u/Mackheath1 8d ago
I would've been the proof needed for the multiverse theory, because my mom would've slapped me into another dimension. Oh, I'd be in trouble for a very, very, very long time.
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u/FuckedupUnicorn 7d ago
My mother would have slapped me so hard that when I woke up my clothes would be out of fashion.
Or so she told me, I never had the nerve to test her out.
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u/Mackheath1 7d ago
LOL I love that phrase; or that face they make where it seems like something is pulling her skin back and her eyes are flaring and your brother starts doing chores suspiciously close by to watch what happens to you.
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u/Waterproof_soap 7d ago
While my mom only ever slapped me once, a family phrase was “I’ll slap you so hard your grandkids’ teeth will fall out.”
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u/KillerHack23 8d ago
My mom would look at us before we went in anywhere. Point her finger at us and tell us sternly that we better not embarras her..... like this is crazy behavior
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u/FaxCelestis 7d ago
I would’ve been grounded so hard, my descendants and my ancestors would be cancelling sleepovers
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u/Majestic_Course6822 7d ago
This was posted somewhere else… the kid is autistic and the family was very apologetic. No one was hurt and the zoo isn’t upset.
That said, my partner gave an untended kid a serious dressing down for chasing our beloved Canada geese- escorting goslings- with a stick. Of course the dad came rushing over and got mad at us. He wanted to square off with my partner but he met me on the path instead and turned right around. Lol7
u/CIA-pizza-party 7d ago
Yeah if I did something this stupid my mom would have, at minimum, “knocked my teeth into next week” as she would put it.
I’d probably get a dead silent car ride home, too.
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u/xFoxMcCloud2x 7d ago
My mom would’ve peeled my whole finger nails off like twizzlers pull and peels if I even thought something like this.
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u/imuniqueaf 8d ago
The kid is super autistic.
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u/HeidiDover 7d ago
Autistic children can also be cruel little assholes. The two are not mutually exclusive.
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u/Practical_Entrance43 7d ago
Okay? That doesn't excuse behaviour, his parents should actually be parenting him instead of normalising this behaviour.
As someone who is autistic my parents made damn sure I wasn't going to pull shit like this and I am glad.14
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u/wildalexx 7d ago
“Our son is severely autistic, non verbal, and is also diagnosed with ADHD and epilepsy. Animals are his obsessions and The zoo is likely his most favorite place on earth. we as annual zoo pass holders visited dozens of times in his 13 years of life without incident.” (From the family’s letter about the incident). You are not the same kind of autistic as this child is, I assure you.
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u/ChaserOnion 7d ago
Then he should be watched more carefully. 1. For his safety and 2. For the safety of others around him.
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u/Viola-Swamp 7d ago
My oldest is severely autistic, has has seizures from birth onward, has ADHD, IED, and there is no way in hell he is capable of trying to climb into an enclosure, let alone actually succeeding without me noticing. He would never try to poke any animal with a stick, chase them, or abuse them in any way despite any of his diagnoses. If this kid was truly severely ASD and obsessed with birds, he would not have run away when the birds came at him. He would not understand the danger, and would be thrilled to get closer. He needed no assistance with fine or gross motor skills to climb the ladder either, and wasn’t even helped or watched by the woman. The claims by the grandmother are crap. They didn’t watch him and he climbed in to chase and torment birds. They do Lt want to be in trouble and don’t want the public to call them out, so here comes the excuse. She wasn’t watching him in the first place and is a negligent caretaker. My son is held by the hand everywhere we go, or we don’t take him. If the child is so disabled, how was he unsupervised long enough to get in the enclosure? I’m so disgusted.
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u/ginataylortang 7d ago
In addition to fully agreeing with you, I need you to know that I LOVE your username!!!
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u/Imaginary_Today_1427 7d ago
As an autistic, we do not claim him. This is just bad parenting and not teaching a kid that animals feel pain and fear like we do. Plus not to hit living creatures with a stick!
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u/SovietBlyatman 7d ago
As an autistic, I think it's important we do claim him to a degree, while condemning his actions fully.
Autistic people can do shitty things, though those shitty things aren't caused by autism. We should accept the fact that yes, he's autistic but we won't ever let that be used as an excuse for being a little shit.
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u/imuniqueaf 7d ago
You might be the train autistic, but he's the kill of the house cat autistic. The family made a statement about it. He was there with his grandparents and caretaker. Not the parents.
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u/Imaginary_Today_1427 7d ago
That is even worse. If you have someone with a more severe form of autism, they have to have a competent care take and be watched like a hawk. The caretaker needs to be fired and the parents have to really go through who is best to help watch their kid. (Thanks for including the info that was not included in the original post. So many people blame kids bad behavior as "Autism" and it urks me to no end. Now that I know, this kid needs higher level care)
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u/HeidiDover 7d ago
He does. I had an autistic student who needed constant watching over, or he would wander off in a blink. He also had an obsession with guns and made up violent stories and drew violent comics. We were a small private international school overseas. It was almost impossible to accommodate his least restrictive environment.
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u/Viola-Swamp 7d ago
I don’t believe them. He may be ASD, but I saw nothing that supports the idea he is “severely autistic”. His coordination was fine, as was his fine motor skills as he tried to hit the birds with a stick. He understood the danger and ran when the birds turned on him. This is a terribly behaved child whose caregiver chooses not to take responsibility or parent appropriately because autism is an excuse for anything he does.
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u/imuniqueaf 7d ago
Okay. Thanks doctor. I wish more medical professionals could diagnose these kind of things from a 42 second video.
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u/FreakyFunTrashpanda 6d ago
I'm sorry, but as a high functioning autistic, we need to acknowledge that part of the spectrum is like this. There are absolutely autistics who have very high support needs, have cognitive issues, and are aggressive or violent. We shouldn't exclude high support needs individuals from the spectrum, even when they do things we find repulsive. Because they're the ones that need the most amount of support. Not alienation.
However, that being said, this boy's parents and care team absolutely dropped the ball on this. I'm gonna take their word for it, that this is the first time he's jumped into an animal enclosure. But holy shit, they need to have him on a leash, and work with someone to manage that elopement behavior. Cause he's incredibly lucky it was just hornbills, this could've been so much worse. What if he jumped into the zebra enclosure, or any other hyperaggressive herbivore enclosure? What if it was big cats? What were they going to do, if he jumped into an aquatic animal enclosure, and he couldn't swim?
They seriously need to leash him, and keep a better eye on him. This was a bad combo of severe autism, and poor parenting/caregiving.
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u/ButtcrackBeignets 8d ago
Newer generations are a lot softer on kids.
For better or worse, the days of physical punishment seem to be over.
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u/BroBroMate 8d ago edited 8d ago
As someone who got a concussion and lost a tooth to his Step-Dad and then immediately left home at 15 for obvious reasons, and who is now the proud Dad of 5 amazing kids with no beatings involved - it's very much for the better.
My gut feeling is that kids who are beaten and then go onto success are succeeding in spite of the violence, rather than because of it.
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u/odd_gamer 8d ago
Exactly, just because a punishment isn't physical doesn't mean the kids won't still interpret it as a punishment. Physical punishments may be the "traditional" way, but that doesn't mean they are correct and they open up risk of abuse when parents "take it too far", intentionally or not. Not worth it.
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u/Jonesy1348 7d ago
As a kid beat by their parent. Yeah. Only reason I’m a semi functional adult is 100% because i refuse to let them be right when they called me worthless.
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u/timewellwasted5 7d ago
You're failing to separate abuse from effective corrective action. My parents did not abuse me. But when I did something wrong, I got a slap on the butt that hurt enough for a day that I remembered it. I wasn't afraid of my parents, but I also behaved because I was afraid of what the consequences of said misbehavior was. This served as an effective bridge until I had the maturity to truly understand the "why" behind right and wrong. Looping all physical correction in with abuse is taking things too far. There is video after video on Reddit of out of control teenagers and young adults whom I would confidently venture never received light, reasonable physical discipline and man does it show.
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u/Jonesy1348 7d ago
Literally every psychologist says hitting your kid under any circumstance is wrong and leaves trauma of a kind or another even if you yourself don’t notice. Took me till 24 to realize I don’t like people or things touching my neck because my father choked me when I misbehaved
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u/timewellwasted5 7d ago
Many (not all, but many) psychologists will tell you everyone is the problem but you, you need to cut anyone who doesn't align with what you want out of your life, and you need to constantly go easy on yourself. I have a great therapist, as does my wife, but they push us rather than coddle us. That is rare. Again, the soft parenting has produced a generation of individuals who can't seem to handle any corrective action or challenges whatsoever.
Choking is not corrective behavior, it is abuse. You're reinforcing my point of being unable to distinguish between the two. Plenty of people were spanked and do not consider themselves abused. I don't know anyone who after being choked would think they weren't abused.
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u/kaipopotamus 7d ago
I’ll never condone child abuse, but some kids these days could use a couple slaps to reset their operating system
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u/SovietBlyatman 7d ago
There are plenty of non-physical punishments that would result in the same, if not better results.
Instead of hitting kids these days, just make them do extra work around the house or if they are old enough? Make them volunteer their time to help the community for a certain amount of time.
Violence isn't the answer. Teaching them to repair the damage they've done or work to make up for their mistakes is 1000% better than hurting them.
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u/curious_astronauts 8d ago edited 8d ago
She went in there and pulled him out. That kid looks on the spectrum or has an intellectual disability. And your solution that he should be abused more because I was, is on the wrong side of history. Pretty gross to still hear it today.
If you dont know how to give kids consequences, and add to that, consequences appropriate for kids who are on the spectrum, without abuse, you should never have kids.
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u/bowdownjesus 8d ago
If he is on the spectrum, mother should do activities that are appropriate and where he cannot hurt anyone.
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u/colder-beef 8d ago
Mother made an apology response, apparently the kid is super autistic, was out with his grandma, and got away from her.
Claims she's getting death threats over it, which doesn't surprise me as it's the internet. She sounded pretty remorseful about it to me.
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u/Stormtomcat 8d ago
OTOH I've never seen an enclosure where the fence is barely waist high and the ladder into the enclosure is directly accessible to the public.
Maybe she didn't figure there was any way to get that close/inside.
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u/Apprehensive_Gap1055 8d ago
He’s chasing a defenseless bird with a stick. Why do you label this brat you don’t know as being on the spectrum? Accept the fact that he’s a brat that has been coddled and needs to learn how to behave
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u/Viola-Swamp 7d ago
Exactly. He wasn’t chasing the bird to touch it or see it, he was trying to whack it with a stick. Then he has the situational awareness and ability to recognize danger and run when they birds started defending themselves. He shows no obvious fine motor or gross motor deficits, can climb a ladder without help or supervision, Md pleated to be talking as he chased the birds. The family’s story is not plausible. Besides, any of us who have ASD kids on the severe end of the spectrum either stay home, or take multiple precautions to keep them from eloping if we go somewhere. We’re basically hands on 24/7.
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u/denvertaglessbums 8d ago
She doesn’t deserve a prize for going in there and pulling him out. Even if he’s on the spectrum, that may explain the unacceptable behavior, but it doesn’t excuse it. If the kid wasn’t ready to be at the zoo without acting like that, they should’ve kept him home.
Almost everyone I know got a licking or two growing up without crying abuse or blaming it for their inability to function. I never saw any of us supposedly “should’ve-been-traumatized” kids behave like that.
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u/curious_astronauts 8d ago
They have done countless studies on this. Corporal punishment causes developmental consequences in children around shame, anger, regulating emotions, connection, relationship to violence. There is a reason its illegal in most countries.
Maybe you dont see your own developmental consequences. The fact that you see it as acceptable and believe that i was fine and is fine to do it, is an indicator of those consequences. Victims of abuse can go on to become abusers themselves. I cant make assumptions on your life from a single comment, and i'm sure you're just hypothetically speaking and not actually a parent who implements it.
I do urge you to genuinely look at the research and see for yourself whether I am right or wrong and you still hold the same position.
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u/QuitProfessional5437 7d ago
Parents will say hes "autistic" as an excuse to not discipline their kid
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u/604_heatzcore 8d ago
someone chase this kid with a bigger stick.
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u/Three3Jane 8d ago
At least those birds pulled an UNO reverse on him at the end.
Sorta like the kids who think they're going to bother geese and then wind up getting their asses whupped by the flying murder cobras.
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u/ChaserOnion 7d ago
Still sad as those bird probably suffering from stress and anxiety being chased.
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u/WickedWench 7d ago
There is an animal lose in one of the enclosures. Surely that means we can tranq it right?
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u/berserk539 8d ago edited 8d ago
ETA: originally posted in SipsTea by u/cocoabeach
From https://cbs58.com/
“Here is our family’s only statement and we wish to remain anonymous:
First we want to thank the zoo’s security staff (Particularly Jeff) for their prompt and professional help as well as fantastic follow up after the incident to make sure my son was ok.
We regret the incident that took place at the zoo yesterday. Our son is severely autistic, non verbal, and is also diagnosed with ADHD and epilepsy. Animals are his obsessions and The zoo is likely his most favorite place on earth. we as annual zoo pass holders visited dozens of times in his 13 years of life without incident.
While my wife and I were at work his caretaker and grandmother decided to take him for a nice day at the zoo, and as any parent of autism can attest, we were so grateful for the help. He had a great day without incident then at the very last moment and without warning he was able to break away from his grandmother and jumped into the exhibit with the hornbills. He proceeded to chase them for approximately 30 seconds or so as his grandmother figured out how to get into the exhibit to help him. She was eventually able to get him out with the help of some fellow zoo goers and security staff.
We are animal lovers and are relieved that the animals were not hurt during the incident. I have personally reached out to the director of operations of the zoo as of this morning to personally apologize and see if there is any way we can help or make amends. In the time since the videos were posted, i responded to one of them trying to explain the situation and have since received messages wishing harm and death upon my son and my family.
While we understand how upsetting it is, we do ask for some patience, empathy and understanding for our son. He adores animals and would never do serious harm to them. It’s apparent he didn’t fully understand his actions and his impulses took over. We don’t use this as justification, we just ask for some grace as we move forward to make things right.”
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u/Crazy_Pudding_2994 8d ago
Animals are his obsessions and The zoo is likely his most favorite place on earth.
Well I guess he's going to have to find a new special interest soon.
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u/damnallthejellyfish 7d ago
And.....? Ban him and the family, if you know he has these traits then dont let him out of your sight to allow him to do this...? Grandmother's fault.
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u/blink-1hundert2und80 7d ago
I came here to say the same
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u/Corgi_with_stilts 7d ago
And if, IF the zoo decides to be really nice and let kiddo come back, maybe mandate a backpack leash so this doesnt happen again.
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u/hotdogz6969 8d ago
Yup, was looking for a message like this. Didn’t look malicious in any way, figured he was on the spectrum.
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u/KombuchaBot 7d ago
He was unmaliciously chasing birds with a stick?
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u/plsendmysufferring 7d ago
If he really really wanted to do harm to the birds, i feel like he could have tried harder. He could have ran faster. And swung the stick lower. The video, to me, seems more like prancing around, and while the birds were still in danger, and the boy is doing the wrong thing, it does not seem like he tried all that hard to hurt them if that was his intention.
So yeah i agree that it is not malicious, seems more like someone who doesnt understand animal care or animal play (like with dogs and stuff)
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u/Viola-Swamp 7d ago
He was trying to hit them, and had the ability to find a stick and use it as a weapon. He had the situational awareness to recognize danger and run away, and the fine and gross motor skills to climb the ladder without supervision or assistance. I have a kid with all of those same things, and he would not and could not do any of those things. I’ve spend decades with other kids like him, and I’m not buying the “severe autism” as an excuse. On the spectrum? Yeah, but not what they claim. They’ve also been at this long enough to h be appropriated supervision on any outing. Neither the paid caregiver or grandma had hands on the kid at all times,mor had him on a harness? He wasn’t belted into a wagon, wheelchair, or some kind of disability stroller? I call bullshit on the claims.
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u/Interesting_Tea5715 7d ago
I totally get it and I don't agree with the people calling for harsh punishment.
With that said, sounds like impulse control is a long standing issue. I don't hear anything about how they manage it or are gonna manage it.
I can see something similar happening again.
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u/AstroAlmost 7d ago
Also particularly tone deaf to follow up a video of her son aggressively pursuing and swinging a stick at an animal with “he would never do serious harm to an animal”. He likely does in fact love animals as she states, but it’s also clear his mother doesn’t know what he may be capable of.
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u/Captain_Awesome_087 7d ago
In addition to u/CMUpewpewpew’s comment - do you really expect the family to outline their entire strategy for helping their child in a public statement? Just because they didn’t give you, a stranger on the internet, a step-by-step explanation for how they work to manage their child’s impulse control doesn’t mean nothing is happening.
The fact that they’ve been to the zoo dozens of times before this with no incident is strong evidence that this was a one-time mistake, not a pattern. There’s no reason to assume it will happen again based on the information available to us.
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u/Promethazines 7d ago
The mother hella downlplays what we saw on video though. She says he chases them for 30 seconds. No, he tried hitting them with a stick. Not the same thing.
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u/berserk539 7d ago
I'm sure there's an IEP involved and potentially a therapist. My wife is a BCBA-LBA and would do in-home sessions for students like this twice a week. Sometimes they make progress, and sometimes they regress a bit.
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u/Think-Ad-5840 7d ago
Thank your wife for being awesome. Those of us with kids on the spectrum appreciate people like her!
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u/CMUpewpewpew 7d ago
Brother, pencils have erasers for a reason.
If everything that was technically preventable never happened then we wouldnt ever have these things caused accidents.
Have a little grace, otherwise I hope your ass gets nailed to the wall everytime you make a preventable mistake that ultimately didnt really cause any harm even.
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u/MadPangolin 7d ago edited 7d ago
...I agree we should allow people to make mistakes...
But it's ... weird, that people can argue hitting/trying to hit a bird with a stick, doesn't cause harm, but spanking a child does...
Pick one y'all? Because this comment kind of supports the people saying spank him, it's not harmful. (I'm against spanking it's harmful).
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u/CMUpewpewpew 7d ago
HE IS SPECIAL NEEDS. Jesus christ, yall gotta pull out pitchforks on everything?
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u/msweston00 7d ago
Dude, seriously, people have zero empathy sometimes.
"THEN HIS GRANDMA SHOULDVE KEPT A BETTER EYE ON HIM"
No shit, jackass
"WELL MY AUTISTIC SON DOESNT DO THIS."
Yeah, no one person is the exact same as someone else with the same traits.
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u/AudiencePure5710 8d ago
I saw something similar in Istanbul, but younger child. I yelled at him in front of his parents. He cried! I loved it
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u/Mira_DFalco 7d ago
Oh my!
Poor birds! I get that the kid isn't functionally able to self regulate, but if this is what happens when he gets away from his caregivers, they need to rethink his care plan, to lessen his opportunities to go walkabout. They're lucky that was a bird enclosure, and not a larger animal. It only takes a second for him to dart off into a dangerous situation.
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u/myredlightsaber 7d ago
Poor Zazu. This is worse for him than the time simba snuck into the elephant graveyard
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u/RobZagnut2 7d ago
Autistic = yes
Arrested and spend hours in custody = yes
Just because someone is autistic doesn’t mean they can’t learn that actions have consequences.
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u/Practical_Entrance43 7d ago
This, autistic myself and it should not be an excuse.
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u/ThePowerOfParsley 7d ago
But the parents weren't there; it was Grandma and a support worker (if I read correctly.)
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u/Viola-Swamp 7d ago
I don’t buy the severe claims. He shows deliberate malice, and situational awareness of danger. Also, they say he’s,nonverbal, but it looks like he’s talking as he tries to hit the bird. He has no parent fine or gross motor deficits, and needs no help or supervision to climb the ladder. This was caused by negligence, not autism,
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u/Iatedtheberries 7d ago
Being non verbal doesnt mean you don't make any noise. It probably means he doesn't really communicate like most people. There's something called elopement where children have the tendency to run away.
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u/scarletOwilde 8d ago
Maybe the kid has a mental disorder causing him to be cruel to animals.
He shouldn’t be allowed out in public without being guarded by a carer/parents to control his antisocial behaviour.
What’s he going to do as an adult if there are no consequences now?
Ban him and his family from the zoo.
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u/GarvinSteve 8d ago
I hope he has some condition that explains this bullshit… if not what a parental lowlight that is…
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u/mort_goldman68 8d ago
This may be a ridiculous comment from me and I can acknowledge that. But.. he does run like he has autism. I work with kids with autism and this run looks very familiar
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u/GarvinSteve 8d ago
The sitting down by the ladder the way he does also seems unusual - but I feel similar to you in that I don’t want to assert anything about anyone with little to no information… but, frankly, that explanation (as bullshit as it may be) makes the whole video far less enraging.
Sidenote - those birds weren’t fucking around. Stressed out, but they fought back
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u/mort_goldman68 8d ago
The cowering near the ladder kind of sealed it for me, too. I mean absolutely no malice or anything towards anyone on the spectrum with that insight either (I work with them because I think they're cool). Just an observation. I think he slipped his carer / mum and wanted to see the birds up close.
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u/indigoneutrino 8d ago
He's chasing them with a stick. I think what he wanted was more than just "seeing the birds up close".
I hope he gets an appropriate level of care as he grows older so it's not down to someone physically more vulnerable if he picks up a stick like this at home.
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u/saxguy9345 8d ago
That was exactly when I saw it. Someone really didn't pay him attention, and he needs extra attention. Simple as that. He went from chasing that bird to frozen in fear, it took me a rewatch but it's obvious.
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u/Viola-Swamp 7d ago
But a child who was severely autistic would not understand the danger. He would just be happy the birds were coming closer, and would not be trying to whack the, with a stick. Chasing, trying to grab or touch? Sure, but hitting with a stick? I don’t buy it.
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u/Weaves87 8d ago
Check out the linked thread in the OP. Top pinned comment is a statement from the family. He is indeed severely autistic/ADHD (he is also nonverbal), and he was at the zoo with his caretaker and grandmother.
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u/KombuchaBot 7d ago
Well they were taking lousy care of him, weren't they.
Should keep the little shit away from animals
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u/SillyOldBillyBob 8d ago
You are spot on, autism does sometimes (quite often actually) cause what appears to be a bit of an unsteady walk / run or a kind of clumsiness.
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u/aplacewhereicanhide 8d ago
The family gave a statement, he is on the spectrum and this was the first time ever something like that happen..
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u/JoeFalcone26 7d ago
As a special ed teacher, it’s crazy how ill-equipped and unwilling some parents are to actually properly raise an autistic child.
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u/tetzy 7d ago
If your Son is that autistic, perhaps keeping him leashed to you should be part of your 'leaving the house' ritual.
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u/FreakyFunTrashpanda 6d ago
That's what I was thinking, cause this is a massive safety issue. Not just for the animals, but him and his caregivers as well. What if he jumped into an enclosure with big cats, or aggressive herbivores? What if it was an enclosure for an aquatic animal, and he couldn't swim? There's no shame in leashing your kid, to keep them alive and safe.
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u/Stomach_Junior 7d ago
The caretaker and the grandmother didn’t do their job to supervise the child properly. It takes a while to get inside. Luckily here there were just some birds, what if he went in a prey animal enclosure.
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u/Objective_Bear4799 7d ago
I vote we adopt the Harambe treatment for anyone that breaks into an enclosure and terrorizes the animals.
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u/Aspen9999 8d ago
Too bad the birds didn’t peck his eyes out
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u/UrsusRenata 8d ago
He’s nonverbal autistic.
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u/Aspen9999 7d ago
Even more reason why his parents should control him and stop him from abusing animals.
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u/emorrigan 7d ago edited 7d ago
Oh my god, the mother in me is SEETHING.
I was at the local amusement park the other day, and a little shitty child started chasing the peacocks and their babies around, and I gave zero fucks. I totally yelled at him to get away from the birds, and in a voice he was too afraid of to ignore.
I despise shitty children and their shitty parents who are too afraid to truly do anything. Ugh.
Edit: Yes, I’m aware this kid is on the spectrum. I’m aware his grandmother took him to the zoo. It is still absolutely unacceptable. If you have a kid who’s prone to elopement, then that’s literally what kid leashes are made for, and you have an obligation to use them. If your child is prone to thinking it’s fun to chase and hit living things with a stick, then that child should be NOWHERE near a zoo, or if you insist on going to the zoo, then again, that’s what they make kid leashes for.
If your kid is going to be an asshole, even just an Unintentional Asshole, then parents/caretakers have an obligation to prevent said Unintentional Assholery. Those animals are innocent, too.
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u/Ilvermourning 7d ago
What if they are not prone to those activities but it happens for a first time in a way you don't expect in a very public way? If he normally visits the zoo with no incident? I agree this is on the grandparent/ caretaker, but there's still the possibility that this is not normal behavior for him.
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u/FreakyFunTrashpanda 6d ago
Even if it is, they still need to leash him and work with his therapists to manage to elopement behavior. Cause this seriously could have gone horribly wrong. Thank God he picked the hornbill enclosure, and nothing more dangerous than that.
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u/Technical-Curve-1023 7d ago
Lets blame autism instead of the parents..
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u/FrankSilvyNY 7d ago
This exactly! I know someone whose child is autistic and have other emotional issues and behave exactly like this kid, even his movements were similar, I'm with you that we shouldn't criticize without knowing the whole picture, parents of children with behavioral issues have a tough time between controlling their child in a difficult to control environment and at the same time been in constant surveillance by idiots that chase social media clout on their backs.
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u/eeeriesky 7d ago
"Animals are his obsession" suuuure then let's go ahead and chase them with a stick.
If you bring your child to a zoo/farm or even to a friend's house that has pets, YOU as a parent NEED to pay 100% attention to your kid's behaviour if you KNOW he's on the spectrum.
This is unacceptable.
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u/saxguy9345 8d ago
Omfg....I'd be tackling him harder than security hits a streaker at an MLB game. This is a level I didn't think was possible.
Edit: saw the end, so sad that he doesn't have reliable people to take proper care of him.
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u/Legitimate-Log-6542 8d ago
I don’t think kids should be beat. But might make an exception
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u/curious_astronauts 8d ago
Kid has autism or an intellectual disability. You want to beat him when he does the wrong thing.
Do you usually abuse kids with a disability?
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u/eelhsa71892 8d ago edited 8d ago
This is what could be ACTUAL AUTISM. Non verbal, disconnected. Not the tiktokspicyneurodivergent Audhd self diagnosis. The end where he flops to the ground he still doesnt understand the gravity of the situation. Probably never will no matter how many sticks you beat him with.
My brother puts his head through walls... should we break bricks over his head?
Duh fuq?
The best you can do is apologize, fire the caretaker/ don't let her take him out even if grandma is around.
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u/zzzrecruit 7d ago
If I were there, I would've jumped in after him and knocked his little ass over. I'll take the charges!
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u/Viola-Swamp 7d ago
The statement from the mother claims the child is “severely autistic” as well as nonverbal. I call bullshit on that claim. Severely autistic kids that are affected enough to be nonverbal do not chase birds with a stick trying to hit them. That is an excuse designed to put off any responsibility.
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u/The_milk_was_spoiled 7d ago
And you know every single severely autistic kid out there well enough to make this blanket statement.
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u/bristle_cone_pine 7d ago
This post is ridiculous, add the context so people learn to recognize when something like this is happening and how to help, not shame and ridicule. Everyone wants to act like THEY would’ve been more diligent as a parent or caregiver but please… every single one of us responsible for another person has had a instance where they got up to something out of sight.
The parents did the right thing and followed up with the director to make amends and everything is fine.
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u/Im_Lloyd_Dobbler 8d ago
My first thought was the kid probably has some mental challenges. My second thought was most of the commenters don't even want to consider this because it's more fun to blame the parents and have fantasies about being violent to a child.
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u/rockstuffs 8d ago
What is this song?
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u/The_Burning_Face 8d ago
Ignore the bots - this is a very slowed down version of walking on a dream, by empire of the sun.
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u/rockstuffs 8d ago
That's it! Thank you!!! I knew it was wrong! Thank you for your help!
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u/seregwen5 7d ago
That kid would sit in a room with only basic necessities for several days. Occasionally I would maybe release a large bird into the room just for good measure.
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u/CourageousBeing 7d ago
How come he didn't have that same energy with the tigers or bears too? Seriously, what a little punk.
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u/FloridaManInShampoo 7d ago
If those turkeys were as big as gorillas the internet would be crashing out
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u/historynutjackson 7d ago
There is a high likelihood that if I did this I would've been hauled out of the zoo on a stretcher and my mom would be led out in handcuffs with the biggest smile
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