Rant #1,452: At the Maul

I am sure that you have all heard about the American woman, from upstate New York, who was mauled by a lion at a lion safari park in South Africa.

Evidently, she and her guide opened up the windows of their car to get better photos of the lions.

Little did they know that a lion was a few feet away.

The lion, feeling that its turf was being intruded upon, lunged at the open window, and gored the woman to death.

Her guide tried to fend off the attack, but he, too, was injured, and the last reports I heard is that he also had a heart attack. He will survive, but not without this horrible memory to live with for the rest of his life.

Anyway, what makes this incident even more puzzling is that the woman was an animal rights activist, particularly focused on the rights of lions living in captivity.

Why did she open her window to take pictures? Of all people, she should have known the dangers of doing that in a lion safari.

I do have some type of feeling for the family at their loss, but c'mon, this woman was a clear fool for thinking that she was safe in opening up a window in such an environment.

Years ago, I went to one of these safaris, I forget if it was in New Jersey or in Florida.

People are told, and implored to, not open their windows in any case whatsoever. Even if your car breaks down, help will be on the way, but windows are never--and I repeat, NEVER--to be opened.

There were signs saying the same thing at this lion park in South Africa, yet the woman decided to take fate into her own hands and open the window.

And she lost.

Lions are very territorial creatures, from what I have heard. If they feel that their space is being compromised, they can go into attack mode.

These are not the pussy cats many people love. These are animals that can rip you limb from limb, and that is evidently what happened here.

And for a woman as learned as she was about lions and their habits ... I just don't get it.

A momentary lapse of reason led to a lifetime of questions for her family.

And people criticized the park for keeping open even after the death. The lion in question was put in a solitary area, but will not be put down.

Why criticize the park? They followed the rules, the rules were clearly posted and spoken about with the woman and her guide, yet they decided to take their lives into their own hands.

It is their problem, not the park's problem.

I am sure her family will probably launch some type of investigation and/or lawsuit, but I hate to say it, they don't deserve any monetary compensation.

The woman just did a stupid thing, and paid for it with her life.

My thought is that parks like this should actually provide the motor vehicle used to go through them, and not have people use their own cars to do this.

This way, the vehicle's windows would be permanently shut, people wouldn't have to worry about their cars being damaged by the animals, and everything would be under the control of the sanctuary.

Whatever the case, a woman needlessly lost her life because of her own stupidity, and it was such a needless death that it is hard to understand what was going through her mind when she decided to open the car window.

You have to wonder about people, you really do ...