The boy apparently climbed over the previous barrier May 28, made his way through some bushes and fell about 15 feet into a shallow moat.
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The attractive primate’s killing caused quite a bit of controversy, as people began to criticize the kid’s parents, as well as the zoo’s protocols.
The new barrier at Gorilla World. The public barrier has been raised to 42 inches, solid wood beams have been added to the top with knotted rope netting fixed at the bottom. Every year it passed accreditation inspections through the AZA.
Legal experts had said all along that child-endangerment charges were unlikely under such circumstances.
It was the first breach in Gorilla World’s 38 years of existence, according to zoo officials.
Tuesday’s exhibit reopening comes a day after prosecutors announced they would not file charges against the boy’s mother in the May 28 incident.
Video footage shows Harambe standing next to the child and dragging him through the water.
The Cincinnati Zoo reopened its gorilla exhibit Tuesday with a higher, reinforced barrier installed after a young boy got into the exhibit and was dragged by a 400-pound gorilla, which was then shot and killed.
Child service workers were impressed with the boy’s environment when they visited the home, ABC News reported, effectively squashing the wild internet yelling that Gregg is unfit to parent, etc.
Krista added that what happened at the zoo is “one of those things you never imagined could happen”.
The only ones who deserve no blame in this tragic incident are the keepers who made the very bad decision to shoot the gorilla rather than leave the child at risk, and the gorilla himself.
Deters said he was surprised by the reaction to the gorilla’s death, but he said, “It’s still an animal”.
He said the mother was there with her four children, ranging in age from one to seven, and was also with a friend with her own two sons. An online petition seeking charges received more than 500,000 signatures.
A witness to the incident recalls the boy telling his mother he was going into the moat.
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“We have been leaning on each other to get through this”, said Maynard. “… I’ve gotten dozens if not hundreds of emails about this case, and if anyone doesn’t believe that a 3-year-old can scamper off very quickly, they’ve never had kids, because they can, and they do”.
