Director: Zoo safe despite shooting of gorilla to save boy
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Animal rights activists and mourners gathered for a Memorial Day vigil outside the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, today, in Cincinnati for Harambe, the gorilla killed Saturday at the Cincinnati Zoo after a 4-year-old boy slipped into an exhibit and a special zoo response team concluded his life was in danger.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A sign was held outside the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden during a demonstration as a zoo visitor entered the grounds via a foot bridge, today, in Cincinnati. Animal rights activists and mourners gathered today for a Memorial Day vigil for the Harambe, a gorilla killed at the Cincinnati Zoo Saturday after a 4-year-old boy slipped into an exhibit and a special zoo response team concluded his life was in danger.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bettina Ernsg, of Cincinnati, held a candle alongside her father John, right, during a vigil outside the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, today, in Cincinnati. Animal rights activists gathered today for a Memorial Day vigil for Harambe, the gorilla killed at the Cincinnati Zoo on Saturday after a 4-year-old boy slipped into an exhibit and a special zoo response team concluded his life was in danger.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A boy brings flowers to put beside a statue of a gorilla outside the shuttered Gorilla World exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden on Monday in Cincinnati.
CINCINNATI » The director of the Cincinnati Zoo says it remains safe for its 1.6 million annual visitors despite a weekend tragedy in which a gorilla was fatally shot to protect a 4-year-old boy who had entered its exhibit.
Thane Maynard, however, said a review is underway to determine any improvements that can make the zoo safer.
The male western lowland gorilla named Harambe was killed Saturday by a special zoo response team that feared for the boy’s safety. Video taken by zoo visitors showed the gorilla at times appeared to be protective of the boy but also dragged him through the shallow moat.
Maynard said the decision to kill the gorilla was the right one. He said the gorilla was agitated and disoriented by the commotion during the 10 minutes after the boy fell. He said the gorilla could crush a coconut in one hand and there was no doubt that the boy’s life was in danger.
Jack Hanna, host of “Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild,” said the zoo made the right call by shooting the gorilla. Hanna said he saw video of the gorilla jerking the boy through the water and knew what would happen if the animal wasn’t killed.
“I’ll bet my life on this, that child would not be here today,” Hanna told WBNS-TV.
The Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, where Harambe spent most of his life, said its staff is deeply saddened by the gorilla’s death. Harambe was sent to Cincinnati less than two years ago in hopes he would eventually breed with gorillas there.
Jerry Stones, facilities director at Gladys Porter Zoo raised Harambe since birth and has worked with the gorilla’s family since they first entered the U.S., the Brownsville Herald reported. He spoke Monday about his relationship with Harambe.
“He was a character. . He grew up to be a beautiful, beautiful animal, never aggressive and never mean,” Stones said, according to the newspaper. “He would tease the heck out of people and would do things to irritate you just like some kids.”
Stones said he would take Harambe home with him when the gorilla was a baby and let him sleep on his bed, according to KRGV-TV.
There are critics of the zoo’s decision to kill Harambe. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the zoo should have had better barriers between humans and the gorillas.
Maynard said the atmosphere following the incident is “very emotional.”
“Not everyone shares the same opinion and that’s OK,” he said. “But we all share the love for animals.”
Maynard said the zoo has received messages of support and condolences from around the world, including from other zoo directors and gorilla experts. He said zoo visitors have been leaving flowers at the exhibit and asking how they could support gorilla conservation.
Many social media commenters have criticized the boy’s parents and said they should be held accountable. A Cincinnati police spokesman said no charges were being considered. A spokeswoman for the family said Monday they had no plans to comment.
“I do think there’s a degree of responsibility they have to be held to,” said Kate Villanueva, a mother of two children from Erlanger, Kentucky, who started the “Justice for Harambe” page and attended a Monday vigil for the gorilla outside the Cincinnati Zoo. “You have to be watching your children at all times.”
15 responses to “Director: Zoo safe despite shooting of gorilla to save boy”
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When all’s said and done, had a 400lb gorilla really wanted to tear a little four-year-old boy limb from limb he’d have done so in the wink of an eye. Maybe in the future we’d be able to know an ape’s true intentions, but all we know for now is that this tragedy didn’t have to happen.
You mean instead of holding the little boy’s hand. Too bad the croiwd was yelling and screaming at the poor gorilla.
????????
Posted two sad faces but it didn’t take… RIP Harambe! 🙁 🙁
This just breaks my heart.
Don’t they have stun guns or something like that where the animal would be stopped but wouldn’t die?
Like a taser? I can’t imagine where tasing a 400 pound gorilla with his hands around a 40 pound child would have a good outcome.
Mr Mililani,
Tasers on big animals like moose and mature bears can work to a degree, but like the device has proven with humans, there is a degree of uncertainty. While animals don’t wear heavy clothing and aren’t frequently high on drugs, the effect of a well-planted taser barb is often only enough to drive the animal away (which is often all that’s desired) instead of an instant and complete immobilization. There’s work being done in this area, but like the defensive use of pepper spray, a wise person had better be ready to instantly go to “Plan B” should an immediate stop not be effected.
I could google this I guess, but what would happen to the boy if there was skin-to-skin contact with a subject being tased?
Too many variables to give a definitive answer. There’s got to be some attenuation due to the primary target’s body mass, but who really has much real world experience? I know the military has done some notorious tests on live pigs, but even there, I don’t recall any tests conducted on two individuals in contact with one another. The weapon’s manufacturer as well as police departments around the country have probably recorded a few cases, but I imagine they’d be pretty few and far between. There are likely stern prohibitions against using Tasers when a mother is holding an infant or child for example. If such cases exist, then most might be accidental.
Thank you.
I feel for the boy & Harambe….not so much for the parents.
Everyone is blaming the parents, but the zoo bears a huge responsibility, more so than the parents. if a four year old child can get into a zoo enclosure, then it is not secure. There should be no way for a child to gain access. Zoos are built mainly for children, and you see them running around freely because parents have a certain expectation of safety at the zoo. How many times did you run around as a kid at the zoo, and your parents a distance away from you? I remember many times. No one is asking how this child entered the enclosure, because that is the real issue here.
But considering how many other children surely visited that same enclosure, how many of them fell into that moat? I know zoo exhibits are made to be safe yet provide guests with a good view, but with how careless people are becoming, might have to sacrifice view for safety. More for the animals sake anyway.
Poor parenting from the mother …. she should pay the zoo for a new gorilla ….
While the boy was in the enclosure ,, she had yell out ” We love you !! ”
what a BOZO !!!