He added the western lowland gorilla was extremely strong and could crush a coconut in its hand.
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The child did not do so easily.
Zoo Director Thane Maynard says the 3-year-old boy is expected to recover after being picked up and dragged by the gorilla for about 10 minutes.
Cincinnati Zoo visitors were shocked on Saturday to see an unattended four-year-old boy climb through a series of barriers and fall into a gorilla enclosure.
Officials had to take the decision to shoot the gorilla in the fear that it would harm the child.
It was the right thing to do.
The zoo said tranquilizing the animal was not an option because a dart could have startled the already-agitated creature, causing it to act aggressively before the sedative kicked in. “… This gorilla was showing aggression”.
Hanna says he knew what would happen if the gorilla wasn’t killed.
The zoo says its Dangerous Animal Response Team did the job as it is trained to do. Stalf said Columbus has a similar team that trains with police. “Our No. 1 priority is to make sure the human is safe”, he said.
The boy was taken to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre for treatment and was released on Saturday night.
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.
So far, more than 200,000 people have signed online petitions on Change.org to protest the shooting.
Anthony Seta, an animal-rights activist in Cincinnati, called the death “a senseless tragedy” but said the objective of yesterday’s vigil wasn’t to point fingers.
The Zoo Director said the loss of Harambe has touched the hearts of many people within the community and beyond.
“If she’d watched her child he wouldn’t have been in the gorilla enclosure in the first place”, the commenter added. The zoo is standing by it’s decision, saying the boy was being slammed against the concrete and his life was in danger.
Mr Maynard said the decision to kill the gorilla was the right one.
“We sent our condolences to the staff of the Cincinnati Zoo”, Stalf said.
The zoo maintains that the barriers set up around the gorilla enclosure exceed the protocols established by the USDA.
The gorilla reportedly took the boy to one end of the habitat and when the little boy started screaming again, it dragged him back again. Each has several security fences that a child could not cross. I don’t want to blame the parents.
“I raised Harambe from the day he was born. But it is your job”.
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According to reports viewed by The Associated Press, a federal inspector previously warned that the public could have been “at great risk” in March if two polar bears that escaped a behind-the-scenes holding area had gained outside access.
