https://news.sky.com/story/ger...krefeld-zoo-11898973

Probably caused by flying fireworks called Chinese lanterns that are prohibited in most of Europe because of fire risk [no kidding?].

Heartbreaking stuff, folks, especially reading this - "The new gorilla enclosure has become beautiful and in 2020 an outdoor enclosure for the orangutans was planned and for the chimpanzee forest is also being built. All this is no longer necessary."

Not mentioned here, but on the news, was the fact that many of the animals who were killed were from already endangered species.

So how do you go about investigating this and apportioning blame?

This being Germany, somebody is going to suffer, that's for sure. Germans laws seem to work on the absolute - for instance, there is no such thing as a traffic accident, per se, although they use word 'unfall' to describe it. The incident it will be invariably found to have been the result of breaking one or other or more of the traffic laws.

In this instance, the law was clearly broken, but by whom?

Yeah, that would seem to be the question.

If I understood correctly the fire was apparently started by those flying lanterns?

I have just been informed that those responsible have handed themselves in.

That is good news. At least they had the intestinal fortitude to do what was right.

To bad they had not acquired some intelligence much earlier in their lives.

quote:

Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
That is good news. At least they had the intestinal fortitude to do what was right.

I doubt that would have here happened in the USA.

From another site -

Entire countries have banned the use of sky lanterns, including Argentine, Austria, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Spain, Germany and parts of Canada. In the USA, bans include Alaska, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Washington. Other states, including Kansas and Missouri and the New York Division of Fire Prevention and Control, are also looking into adopting changes to fire codes to regulate the use of sky lanterns.

Is a sky lantern those homemade “hot air balloons” using plastic and candles?

Yes.
They are also available ready made.

There's a photo of one of the lanterns here.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world...JNR7rPEAafzm3zwmGH28


It looks commercially made.

“German police suspect a mother and her two adult daughters of having caused a deadly zoo fire by releasing illegal sky lanterns on New Year's Eve.

The blaze killed more than 30 animals, including rare apes and monkeys, in the western city of Krefeld.

Police say they have questioned the three women, local residents who are said to be "extremely sorry".

They allegedly did not realise that the lanterns - bought on the internet - were banned in Germany…”

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-50971250

Idiots.

There's a reason why sky lanterns originated in tropical, very wet, near oceanic locations. There isn't a danger of crazy fires getting started.

quote:

Originally posted by Marlin Fan:

quote:

Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
That is good news. At least they had the intestinal fortitude to do what was right.

I doubt that would have here happened in the USA.

Perhaps not, but don't paint us all with that Tar brush. Why automatically think we are not as responsible as the Germans??

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
“They allegedly did not realise that the lanterns - bought on the internet - were banned in Germany…”

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-50971250

Seems they complained that the instructions that came with the lanterns did not mention that they were illegal in Germany.

Illegal in several German states, but not throughout. And in fairness, it's hard to keep track of all the bans here. I dimly remember we once set some of these things off at home, probably way before they showed up on public radar as a hazard. Of course a little thinking would result in realizing that it's inadvisable to use them in densely populated areas, and I guess after this event a) the rest of the states will ban them too, and b) less people will be ignorant of that.

Stereotyping people who would use them though, I suspect they feel genuinely terrible about what happened, and at least did the right thing in coming forward.

I have a neighbor that shoots roman candles onto roofs of houses during holidays. There is no amount of stupid.