The child climbed the old fence, crawled through bushes and dropped into a moat May 28.
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“Our exhibit goes above and beyond standard safety requirements, but in light of what happened, we have modified the outer public barrier to make entry even more hard”, Thane Maynard, director of the Cincinnati Zoo, said in the statement.
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.
The exhibit’s reopening Tuesday comes a day after a prosecutor said the boy’s mother would not be charged and that the 3-year-old had “scampered off” as children sometimes do.
The Cincinnati Police Department completed its investigation into the boy’s parents earlier this week and filed its report to prosecutors.
The 17-year-old western lowland gorilla – an endangered species – was fatally shot after 10minutes with the child in its enclosure.
Director Thane Maynard said that the exhibit had been safe for almost 40 years, but that the new barrier would help to reassure visitors that it is safe.
Deters said he’s happy improvements were made to the zoo exhibit.
As an alternative to traditional zoos or other efforts that include captivity and killing of animals, some conservationists are focusing on larger, open-air sanctuaries, as Jessica Mendoza reported for The Christian Science Monitor in February.
Over 43 million people have safely enjoyed the Cincinnati Zoo Gorilla World exhibit without incident in the 38 years it has been open. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums is the group that accredits zoos. Online, outraged onlookers called the death a “murder” and the mother neglectful, and many urged that she be prosecuted. Others blame the child’s mother for failing to supervise him adequately.
“I’m actually kind of surprised it’s not higher, but I know this is the typical enclosures that they do have at the zoo”, Kari Wolf, of Harrison, said.
A witness to the incident recalls the boy telling his mother he was going into the moat.
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One animal rights group said Tuesday the remodeled habitat essentially proved the faulty nature of the previous enclosure. In a split-second decision weighing a human life against an animal one, the zoo officials who shot the gorilla made the only choice they could, however heartbreaking.
