The zoo plans to reopen its Gorilla World exhibit on Tuesday with a higher, reinforced barrier.
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Sparks, her daughter and 2-year-old son Brody came to the zoo on Tuesday, the first day the gorilla exhibit reopened to the public.
No criminal charges will be filed against the mother of the 3-year-old boy who fell into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo, causing zookeepers to kill an endangered gorilla to protect the child, an OH prosecutor said on Monday.
In May, a young boy climbed over the barrier, made his way through more than five feet of bushes, and dropped into the moat.
It will reopen Tuesday with a higher barrier and added knotted rope netting.
Over 10 minutes, the 400-pound gorilla interacted with the child and dragged him through the water. A petition in attempt to get “Justice for Harambe” circulated online and received more than 500,000 signatures.
One witness said she overheard the boy telling his mother he was going to get into the moat.
Monday, the Hamilton County Prosecutor announced the boy’s mother would not face any charges for the incident. Some commenters vilified the zoo for shooting the animal, while others blamed the mother for not watching her child more closely. Every year it passed accreditation inspections from the AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums).
Deters, however, said the case didn’t warrant prosecutors filing charges against the mom for child endangerment.
Deter also noted that anyone who believed a three-year-old could not “scamper off very quickly” has never had kids.
“I think this whole incident, as well as all the publicity, reinforces the idea that parents and kids need to stick together when they’re at the zoo”, Maynard says. “It does not equate human life”, Deters said. “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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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.
