[Optosypoeds]

Circus elephant tramples 11-year-old girl to death in Vietnam

Victim was reportedly offering animal sugarcane

Police officer Pham Ngoc Tien of Lao Cai province said the elephant was part of a troupe from Hanoi on a 10-day tour of the province. The animal was tied to a chain in the fenced backyard of a cultural center when it was not performing.



Tien said Monday that the 11-year-old girl and several other children had entered its enclosure. The girl was feeding the elephant when it lifted her up with its trunk, threw her to the ground and trampled her repeatedly.

Police officer Phan Van Quang told AFP that Nguyen Thao Anh was offering the elephant sugarcane. "She was trampled to death on the spot", he added.

Nguyen Xuan Quang, deputy director of the Vietnam Circus Federation, reportedly said that children had been teasing the animal prior to Sunday's incident. Speaking to AFP, Quang added that the victim's father was talking on the phone at the time.

The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44926727...-asia_pacific/

[VIAGRA-VIAGRA]

I knew a guy once who's job was to care for cell phones at the zoo. He hated them so I do too.

[Optosypoeds]

I knew a guy once who's job was to care for cell phones at the zoo. He hated them so I do too.

Zoos?

[amusaasyday]

Well it just goes to show how dangerous sugar is in our diet 8-)

[VIAGRA-VIAGRA]

Zoos?

No. Little girls.





Sorry. My humanity is slipping away as I melt into the sugary sweetened landscape of mental abstraction.

[Shootohoist]

Thread title should have been "dumb ass father kills his child"

[wizardasa]

Whether the Father was on the phone or not is a moot point. It's a fucking elephant, people. If a gargantuan animal like that decides to snap, and kill, no one is doing anything to stop it.

The bottom line is, these things are not pets, and people should not be letting their kids act as if they are at a petting zoo with animals that are powerful enough to kill you.

[Louthcoombutt]

In that part of the world the elephant is considered good luck, and walking under one or touching one is common, at least in Thailand anyway.

Sounds like the kids pissed off/annoyed the elephant and the elephant fixed the problem. Sounds like there was no trainer/adult paying attention.

Kid's will be kid's and being kid's doing stupid stuff got one killed.

So in a way the father is guilty of inattention that resulted in his daughters death.

[wizardasa]

What I am saying is, even if the father was standing right beside his daughter and staring the elephant directly in the eye, there is nothing he could do to stop it if it decided to kill.

That's all I'm saying. It's an animal. It knows two things: Fear & Hunger.

[Louthcoombutt]

What I am saying is, even if the father was standing right beside his daughter and staring the elephant directly in the eye, there is nothing he could do to stop it if it decided to kill.

That's all I'm saying. It's an animal. It knows two things: Fear & Hunger.

Agree totally! If the elephant gets it in its mind, nothing will stop it except a bullet in the right place.

[Optosypoeds]

What I am saying is, even if the father was standing right beside his daughter and staring the elephant directly in the eye, there is nothing he could do to stop it if it decided to kill.

That's all I'm saying. It's an animal. It knows two things: Fear & Hunger.

Maybe the father's supervision would have made the difference, maybe not. Maybe the animal gave clues that it was aggressive and there was time to prevent the attack. I ask you: would you let your 11 year little girl go near a 2-ton elephant without you holding her and prepared to pull her away at the slightest sudden movement of the animal? Personally, I wouldn't let my child near any potentially wild animal of that size. It is the equivalent of taking an unnecessarily risk of life and limb with your child and therefore, irresponsible if not criminal.

[gWhya5ct]

I ask you: would you let your 11 year little girl go near a 2-ton elephant without you holding her and prepared to pull her away at the slightest sudden movement of the animal?

Hell no, that's my point bro!

[Borzopayn]

Perhaps he could have kept her away from it to begin with?

We have a winner. Awoke is right, but JK is more right.

Of course, once the attack started, nothing could be done. But if the father had been watching the kid instead of talking on the phone, he might not have let her play with the elephant and there wouldn't have been an attack.

[rNr5Di3S]

That elephant was just liberating her from communism.

[wizardasa]

We have a winner. Awoke is right, but JK is more right.

Of course, once the attack started, nothing could be done. But if the father had been watching the kid instead of talking on the phone, he might not have let her play with the elephant and there wouldn't have been an attack.

*cough*

Ahem...

The bottom line is, these things are not pets, and people should not be letting their kids act as if they are at a petting zoo with animals that are powerful enough to kill you.

[wizardasa]

nunaem, that was a bad joke, but I did LOL.

[rNr5Di3S]

nunaem, that was a bad joke, but I did LOL.

You gotta admit, being trampled beats being napalmed.

[Dyslermergerb]

If there were government regulations in place for such an event, this never would have happened and that sweet girl would still be alive. Think of the children.

[Nekas48]

Whether the Father was on the phone or not is a moot point. It's a fucking elephant, people. If a gargantuan animal like that decides to snap, and kill, no one is doing anything to stop it.

The bottom line is, these things are not pets, and people should not be letting their kids act as if they are at a petting zoo with animals that are powerful enough to kill you.

i believe that qualifies as "being stupid in the no stupid zone"

[Anfester]

cellphones don't kill people. People kill people.

The argument that stupid kills people could be used in this case.