Lion Country Safari Mauling: An Untold Story

[Creed Bratton]

Six Flags Great Adventure has an attraction that is semi like this. Not a monorail but open air vehicles. Liability can't be too much if they continue to do this.

[fryoj]

3 hours ago, YOULLBEBACK said:

Could you imagine the liability of an attraction like this nowadays?  What a different world just a couple decades ago!

The guests were in monorails. It was actually safer than most zoos for guests. The guy that died was a safari employee. This very thing could happen today if someone who worked with lions used the same poor judgement. 

[shark6495]

Look to the Wilds out near Muskingum County. You can ride in an open truck in Lion Country....


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[YOULLBEBACK]

18 hours ago, fryoj said:

The guests were in monorails. It was actually safer than most zoos for guests. The guy that died was a safari employee. This very thing could happen today if someone who worked with lions used the same poor judgement. 

I get that.  My thoughts were more of a large amusement park handling a bunch of exotic animals.  The time and effort to properly train employees, in a much more hyper sensitive environment that we live in, where a lot of animal rights activists would find reason to complain.  Even in monorails, crazy kids might try to break in, etc. 

[Creed Bratton]

I mean, large parks still do this...WDW, SFGAdv, etc.

[windshawne]

Toilet needs.....what a way to go.  But sounds like he kinda brought it on himself.  I was always worried going back there the monorail would become stuck and we would be forced to exit.  Uh uh.

[KIghostguy]

Does anyone know what happened to the ranger jeeps?

[KIghostguy]

From Lebanon’s Warren County Reporter 8-3-1976. Nothing new to add to my article, but I know how you folks find these old newspaper reports interesting (as do I).

 

[SonofBaconator]

On 1/25/2018 at 9:10 PM, shark6495 said:

Look to the Wilds out near Muskingum County. You can ride in an open truck in Lion Country....


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There are no lions at the Wilds, however you do travel park rhinos that pose a threat. 

In Busch Gardens Tampa, the Serengeti Express takes guest right in the plains habitat and the train cars are open air and have no side rails. 

[shark6495]

There are no lions at the Wilds, however you do travel park rhinos that pose a threat. 
In Busch Gardens Tampa, the Serengeti Express takes guest right in the plains habitat and the train cars are open air and have no side rails. 

You’re right. I was thinking of Chetahs and few other animals out there.


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[NewD4y20]

I think it was irresponsible to have a just 20 years old working with lions.

Sad story. A life lost far too young.

[TheRickster]

On 11/19/2018 at 12:01 AM, NewD4y20 said:

I think it was irresponsible to have a just 20 years old working with lions.

Sad story. A life lost far too young.

That's well past the age a lot of zoologists start interning and working directly with animals. He just did some really dumb stuff. If he did what he did at 20, he very likely would have done it at 30 and 40 as well. If not even sooner, older people tend to be involved more in industrial accidents as they tend to take more shortcuts that they've learned in their experiences.

[NewD4y20]

I can see being an apprentice at age 20.

But I don't think a 20 year old should be cut loose to go out into the field by themselves unless they come from a background with extensive experience i.e. last name Irwin.

Or age aside, this human causality could have been avoided with a simple buddy policy, meaning no one goes into the field alone.

[teenageninja]

8 hours ago, NewD4y20 said:

I can see being an apprentice at age 20.

But I don't think a 20 year old should be cut loose to go out into the field by themselves unless they come from a background with extensive experience i.e. last name Irwin.

Or age aside, this human causality could have been avoided with a simple buddy policy, meaning no one goes into the field alone.

How do you know that wasn't the policy?

[NewD4y20]

It says he was alone in the police report. 

 

Apparently the safety procedure in place was to not leave the Jeep while in the cat enclosure. Although he had just a few weeks prior been clawed in the neck seriously enough to require stitches while he was in his Jeep. However when he was fatally attacked he had left his Jeep under his own accord to drop a deuce.

[teenageninja]

35 minutes ago, NewD4y20 said:

It says he was alone in the police report. 

 

Apparently the safety procedure in place was to not leave the Jeep while in the cat enclosure. Although he had just a few weeks prior been clawed in the neck seriously enough to require stitches while he was in his Jeep. However when he was fatally attacked he had left his Jeep under his own accord to drop a deuce.

Right, so he was breaking policy, which was my point.

[NewD4y20]

Well my original point was 20 year olds should not be left alone to work in a lion enclosure..

[KIghostguy]

13 minutes ago, NewD4y20 said:

Well my original point was 20 year olds should not be left alone to work in a lion enclosure..

I think most 20-year-olds have the common sense to not leave your jeep in a lion enclosure, especially if you have been told not to multiple times.

[NewD4y20]

Totally. Only some of them will be mauled to death by lions.

[Gordon Bombay]

6 hours ago, NewD4y20 said:

Well my original point was 20 year olds should not be left alone to work in a lion enclosure..

Totally cool once you’re 21, though. But not a second before 20 year olds are notorious for not respecting lions. Typical millennials. 

[NewD4y20]

Millennials am I right? Lol

 

Ok maybe age isn't it. I do feel like the contractor that was running it for Kings Island shouldn't have skimped out and had only one person in a Jeep. They should have been in pairs.

[BeeastFarmer]

In those days, helmets for bicycles were unheard of.  Kids had gun racks with rifles in the trucks they drove to school.  Jr and Sr high schools had smoking areas.  The Racer had buzzbars.  Times change and so do procedures.  

[standbyme]

19 hours ago, NewD4y20 said:

...unless they come from a background with extensive experience i.e. last name Irwin.

Yeah...that experience worked out well for him. 

[GavPenn]

Eerie connection: Could Outpost 5 be a reference to the ranger post 5 located near the mauling? 

[Gordon Bombay]

19 minutes ago, GavPenn said:

Eerie connection: Could Outpost 5 be a reference to the ranger post 5 located near the mauling? 

No. Outpost 5 is in reference to the recordings that used to play in Adventure Express' queue line. "All aboard the express for Outpost 5." 

The loose storyline to AE was that you were boarding a mine train to that specific outpost and interspersed were reports from the "station master" who mentioned that one track was closed, one expedition had gone missing (and that the search was called off), etc. 

I think it was "track 2" that was closed (and there used be a sign reading something like "Track 2. Closed. Do not enter!" when your train entered the first tunnel. And the expedition was... the "Richards Expedition?"

Anyways, yeah, that's what Outpost 5 is in reference too on the side of Son of Beast's old station. 

Fun Fact: for years, Adventure Express had the Indiana Jones theme playing in its queue line between announcements from the "station master." This music, along with the ride's general theme, gave the distinct impression that the ride was Indiana Jones themed. However, it never was directly. Paramount's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (the one that features a mine cart sequence) debuted in 1984, and the final film in Paramount's series (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) debuted in 1989. Adventure Express opened in 1991. Paramount acquired the park in 1992/1993. 

[presto123]

On 11/21/2018 at 11:19 AM, KIghostguy said:

I think most 20-year-olds have the common sense to not leave your jeep in a lion enclosure, especially if you have been told not to multiple times.

I guess you have never seen the TV show Ridiculousness or visited Youtube. Too many young adults to count take life risking chances as an afterthought. It's always been that way. I totally agree that the Safari area should have had more of an age/experience requirement. The guy was obviously not mature enough to handle the job requirements.

[teenageninja]

On 2/9/2019 at 3:12 PM, Gordon Bombay said:

No. Outpost 5 is in reference to the recordings that used to play in Adventure Express' queue line. "All aboard the express for Outpost 5." 

The loose storyline to AE was that you were boarding a mine train to that specific outpost and interspersed were reports from the "station master" who mentioned that one track was closed, one expedition had gone missing (and that the search was called off), etc. 

I think it was "track 2" that was closed (and there used be a sign reading something like "Track 2. Closed. Do not enter!" when your train entered the first tunnel. And the expedition was... the "Richards Expedition?"

Anyways, yeah, that's what Outpost 5 is in reference too on the side of Son of Beast's old station. 

Fun Fact: for years, Adventure Express had the Indiana Jones theme playing in its queue line between announcements from the "station master." This music, along with the ride's general theme, gave the distinct impression that the ride was Indiana Jones themed. However, it never was directly. Paramount's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (the one that features a mine cart sequence) debuted in 1984, and the final film in Paramount's series (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) debuted in 1989. Adventure Express opened in 1991. Paramount acquired the park in 1992/1993. 

I know it was always implied that it was an Indiana Jones ride, but is the reason it never became one, due to the fact that Disneyland had it's own Indiana Jones ride that opened in 1995?  I have to think that was a factor.

[Gordon Bombay]

4 hours ago, teenageninja said:

I know it was always implied that it was an Indiana Jones ride, but is the reason it never became one, due to the fact that Disneyland had it's own Indiana Jones ride that opened in 1995?  I have to think that was a factor.

You know, I'm not entirely sure. 

If I recall correctly, I remember reading that Spielberg controls a good amount of the rights associated with his films, which is why we never saw much Indiana Jones in the Paramount years aside from posters, the theme song on I street, etc. AKA why we had "Tomb Raider" instead of "Indiana Jones."

WHat's interesting, though, is that Adventure Express was planned, designed, conceived, and opened a few years before Paramount took over the park. So I think in that case, it was simply just a matter of the Indiana Jones films/franchise being incredibly popular for the time (Crusade opened in theaters in 1989) and KI knew what they could do with a mine train coaster. It seems like KECO was in to theming for a moment. Phantom Theater seems a lot like Haunted Mansion, no?

[TheRickster]

I think MGM owned the Indiana Jones amusement park rights because of the show they had at MGM in Florida. I'm sure it just comes down to Disney/MGM having more licensing permissions and control that Paramount did.

[Joshua]

Also, I believe Paramount has distribution rights for the four existing Indiana Jones films while Lucasfilm controls licensing and legitimate ownership of the actual IP. George Lucas hated studio interference on the films he produced/directed, so starting with The Empire Strikes Back, this is how he went about things.