The reaction across the country has been divided after a 17-year-old Silverback gorilla was killed at the Cincinnati Zoo after a four-year-old boy climbed through a barrier and fell into the enclosure.
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Thayne Maynard, director of the Cincinnati zoo, called the decision to shoot the gorilla hard, but said that it was made only after the gorilla didn’t respond to a “special call” that ordered them inside, ABC News reports. He was shot after a 4-year-old boy was able to get into the gorilla enclosure, then fell into the water.
The incident was captured on video and has outraged animal lovers around the world. An online petition seeking “Justice for Harambe” earned more than 100,000 signatures in less than 48 hours.
“We stand by our decision”, he said Monday. “The child is safe”. “We’ve never had a situation like this at the Cincinnati Zoo where a unsafe animal needed to be dispatched in an emergency situation”, he continued.
Animal rights group PETA said the zoo could have done more to prevent the death with closer monitoring and immediate action after the attack. Maynard said the boy, who was not identified, was not seriously injured in the fall.
“People can shout at the parents and people can shout at the zoo”, Seta said. Officials had to take the decision to shoot the gorilla in the fear that it would harm the child.
Maynard explained, however, that tranquilizing Harambe was not even considered because “tranquilizers do not take effect for several minutes and the child was in imminent danger”. He calls the decision a hard one, but the right one.
Since the gorilla’s death, the hashtag #JusticeForHarambe is trending on Twitter and a petition has been launched calling for “the parents to be held accountable for the lack of supervision and negligence that caused Harambe to lose his life”.
“Certainly a gorilla is large and strong, and I don’t think that we can measure intent by watching a video on the Internet”, Bright said.
In fact, Columbus might one day design a gorilla exhibit that has an unobstructed view of the animal in its habitat, which is the goal of every zoo.
This undated photo obtained May 30, 2016 courtesy of the Cincinnati Zoo shows gorilla Harambe.
“That’s important for our long-term breeding program and gorilla conservation”, Maynard said. A spokeswoman for the family said Monday they had no plans to make additional comments.
Gorilla World opened in 1978, and this is the first time there has been a breach, zoo spokeswoman Michelle Curley said.
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But the zoo director there said tranquilizers may have made the situation worse by agitating the 450 pound gorilla.
