“Once their investigation is concluded, they will confer with our office on possible criminal charges”, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters said in a statement.
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FILE – In this Sunday, May 29, 2016 file photo, a child touches the head of a gorilla statue where flowers have been placed outside the Gorilla World exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, in Cincinnati, where a western lowland gorilla was fatally shot Saturday, May 28, 2016, to protect a 3-year-old boy who had entered its exhibit.
Deters could make a decision as early as Friday.
Legal experts have told The Associated Press that a prosecution in the case seems unlikely.
The family declined to comment on the investigation.
The zoo plans to reopen Gorilla World on June 7 with a higher, reinforced barrier.
Zoo spokeswoman Michelle Curley says the new barrier railing will be 42 inches tall with solid wood beams added to the top and knotted rope netting at the bottom. “I tried to see exactly what was happening – it looked as though the gorilla was putting an arm round the child – like the female who rescued and returned the child from the Chicago exhibit”. Jane Goodall published an email she sent to zoo director, Thane Maynard, regarding what she described as “a devastating loss to the zoo, and to the gorillas”.
“Everybody’s doing fine. We speak daily”, she said, referring to her son, thirty-six-year-old Deonne, and the boy’s mother, thirty-two-year-old Michelle.
“He’s dragging my son. I can’t watch this!” a woman, who isn’t identified, says in the 911 call on Saturday.
The grandma of the OH boy who fell into Harambe’ the gorilla’s enclosure reveals she does not believe the ape should have been killed.
Meanwhile, the zoo has collected sperm samples from the 17-year-old gorilla – raising hopes he could have posthumous children. “We feel that our exhibits are safe”, she said.
Ireland manages the care of animals including polar bears and chimpanzees, which the zoo classifies as potentially deadly (gorillas are deemed to be merely “dangerous” because they’re less likely to attack people).
The woman, identified in USA media as Michelle Gregg, repeatedly tells her son to “be calm” during the incident at Cincinnati Zoo.
The boy’s family has expressed gratitude to the zoo for protecting his life.
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In Rwanda, guides who lead tourists to see habituated gorillas ask them to stay at least 23 feet (seven meters) away from the animals.
