“Those are some of the words the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden used Sunday in a contrite explanation for the death of Harambe, a 17-year-old western lowland gorilla killed on Saturday to save a boy who slipped into the zoo’s habitat”.
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“For the safety of the child the Zoo’s Dangerous Animal Response Team shot and killed Harambe”, said Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard.
The review will not relate to the operation or safety at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Following the fatal shooting of an endangered species gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo, many people have questioned whether or not the correct action was taken.
The incident has triggered a furor online, with some saying the boy’s mother should be charged with child endangering, while others want the zoo held responsible for the animal’s death. “So people have to understand that even though this gorilla is endangered, and there are a lot of unsafe animals that are endangered, human life still takes precedence”.
Police said the investigation was unrelated to Saturday’s shooting or safety of the OH zoo. He said it’s never an easy choice and someone can only really appreciate how hard it is when they’ve been forced to make it.
“He grew up to be a lovely, beautiful animal, never aggressive and never mean”, Stones said, according to the newspaper.
The Salisbury Zoo doesn’t have gorillas, but it does have risky animals and it has a plan in case someone were to get inside an exhibit. A spokeswoman for the family said Monday they had no plans to comment.
The first 911 call about a boy falling into the moat surrounding the Cincinnati Zoo’s gorilla exhibit was made at 3:52 p.m. Saturday. The zoo says the exhibit is equipped with an alarm system that will alert a security team if someone falls or jumps into the enclosure.
Zoo officials shot Harambe after a young boy fell into the gorilla’s exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo over the weekend.
The zoo also practices emergency drills each month to practice scenarios involving an animal escape and human injury, they’re not taking any chances.
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Stop Animal Exploitation Now, a Cincinnati-based animal rights group, said it had filed a federal complaint against the zoo with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the BBC reports. He said the gorilla was agitated and disoriented by the commotion during the 10 minutes after the boy fell.
