The harried 911 call from the mother of the young boy who fell into a gorilla enclosure was released by police Wednesday.
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The family of the 3-year-old released a statement on Wednesday morning.
“We are also very appreciative for the expressions of concern and support that have been sent to us”, said a statement by the family.
The boy’s family isn’t commenting on the police investigation, but they released a statement saying he continues to do well and expressed gratitude to the Cincinnati Zoo for protecting his life.
“Hi. My son fell in the zoo exhibit at the gorillas”, the woman said.
A FORMER zookeeper has defended the decision of Cincinnati Zoo to shoot Harambe the gorilla, comparing the strength of the “gentle giants” to 10 adult humans.
“This is an animal (that) with one hand, I have seen take a coconut and crush it”, zoo director Thane Maynard said.
A three-year-old boy who fell into a gorilla enclosure at Cincinnati Zoo, leading to the animal being shot, is said to be “doing well”.
An online petition calling for child protective services to investigate Gregg has garnered more than 60,000 signatures.
Police are considering whether to lay charges against the parents, while a negligence complaint has been filed against the zoo.
Police also said Tuesday they are investigating the parents of the boy.
The reference appears to be to a 1996 incident, where a small boy climbed a railing and fell 18 feet into the gorilla den at the Brookfield Zoo.
Minutes later, the Cincinnati Zoo’s unsafe animal response team shot and killed the gorilla to protect the boy. Listen to that call here: And another woman gave a detailed description as to what she was seeing, describing a noisy scene: The shooting has since sparked outrage from animal rights activists who claim the gorilla could have been tranquilized.
Most gorilla exhibits around the country now have open-viewing areas – often protected by a combination of glass walls, mesh netting and moats.
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“Currently, it’s not anything we would use for reproduction”, Kristen Lukas, who heads the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Gorilla Species Survival Plan, said.
