“In mourning? You all killed him for protecting a child whose parents couldn’t contain their own children!!” said one commenter on the zoo’s Facebook page.
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Zoo officials say the 4-year-old climbed through a barrier Saturday and fell 10 to 12 feet into a shallow moat. The zoo said officials were forced to shoot and kill the 17-year-old Silverback, nicknamed Harambe, in order to save the child.
Tranquilizers can take several minutes to work, so the team decided that the best course of action was to shoot the western lowland gorilla. “This is a huge loss for the Zoo family and the gorilla population worldwide”.
Twitteratti reacted to the killing of a 17-year-old gorilla named Harambe that grabbed and dragged a 4-year-old boy who fell into a moat. The boy’s family said in a statement today that the boy “is home and doing just fine”.
The zoo planned to remain open Sunday, but Gorilla World will be closed until further notice. Harambe would have been able to father more western lowland gorillas.
“The child was not under attack but all sorts of things could happen”, Cincinnati Zoo Director said in a report by CNN.
The child was released from the hospital on Saturday, after suffering non-life threatening injuries.
“The gorilla took him to one end of his habitat, and the little boy started screaming again, and the gorilla dragged him back again”, said zoo visitor Patricia Harvey.
Maynard said Harambe wasn’t tranquilized because the drugs could have taken a while to become effective in an animal of Harambe’s size.
On a witness video of the incident zoo visitors can be heard yelling, ‘Somebody call the zoo!’ and ‘Mommy’s right here!’
While the gorilla has been put down, the zoo is still in the process of recovery.
O’Connor tried to help keep others calm while zoo officials moved in but left before Harambe was shot.
Mr Maynard, however, mourned the loss of the gorilla, which came to Cincinnati in 2015 from the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas. Video emerged of the terrifying incident, which showed the gorilla handling the four-year-old boy.
Many have also drawn comparisons with two other exceptional circumstances, whereby gorillas have saved children who have fallen into their enclosures at zoos. The station did not air portions of the video showing the gorilla dragging the boy. Harambe dragged the boy around for approximately ten minutes, at which point the zoo’s risky animal response team shot him.
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Maynard said Saturday that no visitor has breached the exhibit in its 38-year history.
