Former zookeeper Amanda O’Donoghue posted on Facebook that the more natural enclosures zoos have employed in recent years work well until “little children begin falling into exhibits, which of course can happen to anyone, especially in a crowded zoo-like setting”. Critics are saying the zoo officials did not do enough to prevent the loss of the gorilla.
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Jacob and Krista Ward went to the zoo on Tuesday with their three children.
Madison Zortman, center, has her picture taken by her mother Rebekah Ridgeway, bottom left, at the Gorilla World exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, Tuesday, June 7, 2016, in Cincinnati.
The toddler’s family released a statement shortly after the May 28 incident, expressing their thanks to the Cincinnati Zoo for its actions.
Krista added that what happened at the zoo is “one of those things you never imagined could happen”.
At the launch of the new fencing, six inches taller than the one a 4-year-old apparently scaled in seconds, zoo Director Thane Maynard claimed that the park has “modified the outer public barrier to make entry even more hard”.
Anyone with children knows that a second is all it takes for a wayward kid to get beyond an adult’s grasp. The killing of Harambe set off a fierce debate over who was to blame. An online petition seeking charges against the parents received more than 500,000 signatures.
“We have been leaning on each other to get through this”, said Maynard. Some commenters vilified the zoo for shooting the animal, while others blamed the mother for not watching her child more closely.
In announcing his decision not to seek charges in the case, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters said Monday that there was no evidence the child’s mother failed to act appropriately.
Molly McCray said that’s why she often uses a leash to make sure she doesn’t lose her children.
The USDA, which inspects the zoo annually, will look into whether the facility was in compliance with a federal law that monitors the treatment of animals in research and exhibition. Every year it passed accreditation inspections through the [Association of Zoos and Aquariums].
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The family has said the boy is doing well and they’re taking steps to put the “tragic episode” behind them. The zoo is also visited twice a year by the US Department of Agriculture, which examines the care given to animals there, as well as the safety of their exhibit areas.
