Minor Rant...

1st Rant: On Saturday, a three year old child threw a rock and managed to hit one of the Lion exhibit windows. One of the brand new Lion exhibit windows. The ones that have only been in the exhibit for three weeks. No big deal, right? Except that it shattered one of the three panes that make up the windows. Yes. Each one of those windows are three panes of glass thick. This is to ensure that it can handle a lion or tiger pawing, jumping or otherwise putting pressure on it. It does not, however, protect against rocks. Luckily, it worked the way it was supposed to. When the rock hit the window, the first pane of glass (remember, the window is three panes thick) shattered. Since it is safety glass it did not send glass on to the ground. Instead, it was kept contained and simply created a nice spiderweb across the whole pane. It really looks kind of pretty, actually...until you realize that just one window costs $5000.00. And that's just for the window. Including labor the total cost to replace it will be closer to $8000.00.

None of us blame the child. A three year old can not be expected to know that throwing a rock at a window is not something it should do. The parents, however, should have been keeping a closer eye on their child.

Okay....ranting is done....For those of you interested, here are two pictures of the window.



Like I said...rather pretty when you don't think about how much it cost...or the fact that it had only been installed for three weeks...