There are four feet of bushes after the fencing, as well as a 15-foot drop to shallow water which the gorillas can access.
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An Ohio prosecutor announced Monday that the mother of the three-year-old boy who fell into the gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo Memorial Day weekend will not face criminal charges.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said Monday that he wouldn’t bring charges against the boy’s mother.
A gorilla named Harambe was killed by a special zoo response team on Saturday, May 28, after concluding the 3-year-old boy’s life was in danger. The child, who slipped away from his parents, fell into the enclosure and was then dragged around by an agitated gorilla who was eventually shot and killed by zookeepers.
“I was concerned they might close the exhibit altogether”, she said. “So it was really heartbreaking for Harambe the gorilla, as well as for the child and their family”. The barriers that the three year old climbed over are now 6 inches taller and have wood beams on the top and bottom and netting in between. Others suggested the mother should have watched the boy more closely.
“The little boy himself had already been talking about wanting to go in, go in, get in the water and his mother is like, ‘No you’re not, no you’re not, ‘ ” said Kimberley Ann Perkins O’Connor.
The previous, 3-foot barrier fence passed multiple safety inspections by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, according to zoo officials. “And they felt that this boy’s life was in jeopardy, and they did, they made the painful choice to do what they did”.
Harambe’s story and legacy are of great interest now, but zoo officials said the zoo’s goal is to move forward and to reassure the public that the zoo and all its animals are safe. The USDA, which inspects the zoo annually, will look into whether the facility was in compliance with federal laws that monitor the treatment of animals in research and exhibition. “We continue to praise God for his grace and mercy and to be thankful to the Cincinnati Zoo for their actions taken to protect our child”, the family said.
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Maynard says the zoo is cooperating with that investigation.
