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Vacationer sues bird park: billy goat causes knee surgery!
A billy goat accident in the Marlow bird park leads to a trial before the Stralsund regional court. Costs over 31,000 euros in the dispute.
Vacationer sues bird park: billy goat causes knee surgery!
In an unusual and sensational case, the Stralsund regional court is dealing with an incident that occurred in the Marlow bird park in the summer of 2023. A 63-year-old woman from the Wittenberg district in Saxony-Anhalt was injured by a billy goat in the petting enclosure. The health insurance company Salus BKK is now suing the zoo for damages of over 31,000 euros in order to claim the costs of treatment and sick pay, as nordkurier.de reports.
The affected woman was in the enclosure with her daughter, son-in-law and grandson when she felt a “good rumble in the back of my knee” and fell. This incident led to knee surgery and the woman was on sick leave for up to a year. The health insurance company argues that an animal like the billy goat does not belong in a petting enclosure, while the bird park itself rejects the allegations of animal starvation and emphasizes that there were no bucks in the enclosure that day. These had been slaughtered the morning before, as the park management makes clear, supported by landwirt-media.com.
The different perspectives
Witness reports surrounding the incident are contradictory. Some claim that the goat ran specifically towards the woman, while the son-in-law of the injured party claims that the goat's movement had to do with a different direction and that the woman was just standing in the way. The legal disputes surrounding animal husbandry in the Marlow Bird Park raise essential questions about safety in zoos and the quality of animal husbandry, because according to the Association of Zoological Gardens (VdZ), animal husbandry in such facilities is subject to strict controls and legal framework conditions. In the eyes of the VdZ, the keeping of animals is viewed as a “zoological institution” that strives for pathocentric animal protection that focuses on the welfare and sensitivity of the animals, as vdz-zoos.org explains.
A hearing will take place on Wednesday, at which the zoological director of the bird park will also testify. It remains unclear whether the billy goat had left the enclosure or whether it was a goat. The debate about safety in zoos and the welfare of animals is not just regional, but is widespread and concerns animal welfare advocates across the country.