Background;

XYZ City Zoo features a popular exhibit with western lowland gorillas.
One day, 4-year old Adam visited the zoo with his parents and three
other siblings. Adam's parents became momentarily distracted and
Adam slipped through a 12-inch space between the railing and the
mesh enclosure over the top of the exhibit, crawled over a landscaped
area and fell about ten feet into a pond inside of the exhibit.
Coco, one of the largest male gorillas, picked Adam up and dragged
him around roughly for more than 10 minutes. Due to Coco's strength
and size and the noise from panicked onlookers that were causing the
animal to become agitated, the zoo officials made an emergency
decision to shoot and kill Coco so that Adam could be rescued.
Adam's parents sue the zoo for the injuries sustained from his fall and
from being dragged by Coco (a concussion, cuts and scrapes), alleging
that the zoo was negligent in its design of the exhibit enclosure.
Although this sort of thing had never happened before at XYZ City Zoo,
Adam's parents argue that there have been similar publicized incidents
in other zoos across the country with people either accidentally falling
or deliberately climbing into wild animal exhibits, such that XYZ
City Zoo should have known about this risk and eliminated the space
between the railing and the enclosure.
The zoo files a counterclaim against Adam's parents for damages
associated with the loss of Coco, who is an endangered
species and was extremely valuable to the zoo and the community. The
zoo alleges that Adam's parents were negligent in supervising their son,
which led to the unfortunate incident.

Write a paper addressing the following questions:
1. What duty of care does a zoo owe to its patrons? What standard
should apply to the enclosures around exhibits containing wild animals?
2. Based on the facts given here, analyze each of the elements
necessary to establish a negligence claim and explain whether or not
you think Adam's parents will prevail in their lawsuit against the zoo.
3. What duty of care do parents owe in the supervision of their children?
What legal defense(s) would the zoo likely assert against the
negligence claim filed by Adam's parents?
4. Pretend you represent the zoo; is there any other information that
might be relevant to preparing your defense and counterclaim? What
additional information or facts would you want to know?

 

 

Cite to the textbook and a minimum of two other scholarly sources
throughout your paper to support your analysis and conclusions

.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

 

Submit with a required APA compliant cover sheet