Gorilla Shot To Save Young Boy

http://www.wlwt.com/news/police-responding-incident-at-cincinnati-zoo/39773436

Looked like the gorilla was trying to protect the kid. I can see how it's a tough decision, though.

 

I hate that the gorilla was shot, but what would we all be saying if they didn't shoot the gorilla and the boy was killed?

Crap situation, seems like the parents should be looked at for liability in the incident.

 

Endangered species. Whoever was supervising the child should be put in the cage, sans rifleman help.

 

Man I hate it. If it were some kind of pure carnivore like a tiger that definitely sees the kid as prey, I think it's definitely the right call. The way things looked with the complete lack of aggression makes you think the gorilla was being paternal. But I don't know how volatile those guys are. I hope there was a gorilla behavior expert involved in making that call.

 

The Mom is a moron but it's concerning that it would be possible for a 4 year old to get inside the exhibit in the first place.

 

Apparently not volatile unless provoked. I doubt they had time for a Gorilla expert.

 

After I watched the full video I think they had to do it.

 

There's no reasonable argument for not shooting the poor creature, imo.

 

The barriers were up to code. They aren't meant to assume folks are actively trying to break in to the enclosure and fall 15 feet, or that young children will be unattended for several seconds.

 

Until a few minutes ago I didn't realize it was just a barrier the kid crawled over. I thought he'd slipped through a crack that shouldn't have been there or something like that.

 

Was it a male or female gorilla?

 

Male.

There were females there that retreated to their indoor enclosure when called. The male wouldn't respond and instead approached the child.

He was actually very gentle at first but then grabbed him and drug and threw him. It seemed he was doing this to get him away from the chaos of the crowd but it doesn't really matter at that point.

 

The crowd certainly had a negative effect, but what can you do? It was a chaotic situation.

 

I think it was the silverback.

 

In the absence of some hard data on negligence I'm also not a fan of the mom shaming. I think this was a case of a 4 year old determined to get in that water and a mom who was distracted by younger siblings. We know it doesn't take long.

 

Well I'm assuming the barrier is significant enough to that the kid didn't just quickly hop over it. The defenses should take a decent amount of time for a four year old to breach.

 

I'm not shaming, I am just saying it should be looked into. For the record.

 

The tenor here has been better than social media land. Surprise.

 

I agree, but I have a slightly psychotic two year old that can climb a sheer rock bluff in about 32 seconds.