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> Gorilla shot dead after boy enters pit...
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HausofKubrick
post May 30 2016, 09:06 PM
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This story has been doing the rounds today and I find it very disturbing/upsetting. A four-year old boy entered a gorilla pit (while being unsupervised by his parents - HOW does a child manage this away from his parents?) and the zoo decided the best plan of action would be to kill the gorilla.

QUOTE
Zoo officials have shot dead a gorilla after a four-year-old boy fell into its enclosure in the US city of Cincinnati.

The boy climbed through a barrier and fell into a moat, where he was grabbed and dragged by the gorilla.

The zoo said it took action to shoot the 400lb (180kg) gorilla as the situation was "life-threatening". The boy is expected to recover.

The boy had fallen about 10ft into the moat. Video shows the boy being dragged through the shallow moat. The gorilla then stops, with the child below him and looking up at him.
But the boy was reportedly dragged by the 17-year-old male western lowland gorilla named Harambe for about 10 minutes.

The child was taken to a local hospital and although no information about his condition has been released it is believed he will recover.

Zoo director Thane Maynard said: "[The officials] made a tough choice and they made the right choice because they saved that little boy's life. It could have been very bad."
He said a tranquilliser would not have had a quick enough effect. Mr Maynard said that although the boy was not under attack, he "certainly was at risk". He added: "We are all devastated that this tragic accident resulted in the death of a critically-endangered gorilla. This is a huge loss for the zoo family and the gorilla population worldwide."

Harambe was born in captivity in Texas and moved to Cincinnati zoo in 2014, where it was hoped he could be part of a breeding programme. Cincinnati zoo has had the largest number of western lowland gorilla births in the US.





What are your thoughts on this issue? Were the zoo in the right to shoot and kill the gorilla? Should the parents face some sort of repercussions for not looking after their child properly?
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HausofKubrick
post May 30 2016, 09:07 PM
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I think the most appropiate comment i've seen is that "the gorilla did a better job of protecting the boy than the parents did" in their visit to the zoo..
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lotita
post May 30 2016, 09:11 PM
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The gorilla really didn't seem to be doing anything risky to the child at all, it wasn't like it was running crazily around, I'm sure it could've been tranquillised, what if the shot to kill the gorilla had missed and killed the boy as well?! The parents should definitely take part of the blame, as they should've been supervising but also the zoo as well. I mean it shouldn't be possible for a child to just fall down into a moat like that..
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Tafty³³³
post May 30 2016, 09:28 PM
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The fact it was so easy for the little boy to fall/climb/however he got in to the pit should be questioned!

The videos I've seen of the Gorilla showed that he was protecting the child from all the screaming of the public etc.. Yeah he ran around with him a couple of times, but he could tell the boy was distressed and did his best to protect him. I am 100% sure that if the Gorilla was to harm the boy, he would have done so, there and then, with no hesitation.

I understand kids can escape view of their parents a lot of the time, but surely you'd have noticed the boy missing in time to either catch him or prevent him from going further?? :/

I really don't think the Gorilla deserved to have been shot. Tranquilized, certainly. But not to have ended his life when his natural instincts took over. sad.gif

I also read today that somewhere in Chile, two lions were killed after a man trying to commit suicide, jumped into a lion pen drama.gif
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danG
post May 30 2016, 09:30 PM
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sad.gif
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richie
post May 31 2016, 07:12 AM
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Was saddened to hear about this. A tranquiliser was surely the answer? The director of the zoo was on TV this morning defending their actions by saying that those signing e-petitions "weren't there" - but the TV footage certainly makes it look as if the Gorilla was not being aggressive.
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Qween
post May 31 2016, 08:18 AM
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Well, I HOPE the main thing that comes out of this is that the zoo make it impossible for anyone to fall into the cage, or any other cage, ever again. The parents probably deserve some blame too, but it's so easy to look away for a second and something bad happen, so I can't lambast them too harshly.

As for the actions taken, it was a damned if they do, damned if they don't. The footage doesn't show the gorilla harming him at all, of course, but what if they tranquilised him and whilst it was taking effect (which can take some time) it angered him and he did lash out. Even the most well trained, passive animals can have fleeting moments of being uncontrollable and unpredictable without reason or explanation. That's all it would have taken for the boy to die. The zoo would have been in even more hot water over that. It was an impossible, horrible, decision to make but 100% the right one, in my opinion. It's not that human life matters more than animal life, and the zoo does have to accept some fairly high level of responsibility for it being able to happen in the first place, but weighing up the evidence we have they made the right call.
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*Tim
post May 31 2016, 08:31 AM
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https://www.facebook.com/streetfx/videos/10157197927045112/

This video shows the waythe gorilla was handling the boy. It wasn't really the sweet and gentle y'all are describing. The kid was being tossed around like a ragdoll!

While I am a big supporter of animal rights, I don't think they had much choice. Tranquilizing the gorilla would've taken a lot of time and by the looks of it the kid had already endured so much trauma before he was shot.
Animals get really angry in between the moment of shooting and the moment of them actually "falling asleep" so if they would've done so the kid most likely would've suffered a lot worse.
It was a loss loss situation for the zoo.

Both the zoo and the parents are at fault here. The zoo for even allowing the kid to be able to climb over the fence (It wwas a 3-year old, how is that even possible) and the parents for even losing sight of their kids. The mums explanation of "accidents happen" is unacceptable to me. In busy places like that keeping your kid within eyesight should be your first priority as anything could happen, but obviously she got distracted by the animals and lost sight of it.
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p a v
post May 31 2016, 10:33 AM
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Disgusting.

The zoo are primarily at fault there. a THREE year old climbing over a f***ing fence and falling inside. Although, it's rather ridiculous that a 3-year old could climb all the way inside with parents not seeing. It's possible to get distracted for a few seconds (we are all human) but surely your natural instincts automatically take over by you realising you haven't checked on your child in some seconds. You can NEVER let your THREE year old out of sight for more than a couple of seconds really. Especially in the zoo. I mean come on. So the parents are definitely partly to blame here although I don't know ALL the circumstances obviously so can't judge them too harshly.

As for the gorilla death, this further assures me that I am right in f***ing hating zoos. They are disgusting. You put animals in captivity and then when you and you alone are responsible for something bad happening, the only solution is to shoot and kill those animals to make it go away. What kind of world is this?

Of course it was easier to kill the gorilla than face a lawsuit from the parents for the health damages (which is probably still going to happen unless they settle) or even death.

100 quid that neither the child's parents nor the zoo have learned their lessons there. Everything will stay the same. The animal will have died for nothing.

Ugh.
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Liam.k.
post May 31 2016, 01:33 PM
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QUOTE(Qween @ May 31 2016, 09:18 AM) *
Well, I HOPE the main thing that comes out of this is that the zoo make it impossible for anyone to fall into the cage, or any other cage, ever again. The parents probably deserve some blame too, but it's so easy to look away for a second and something bad happen, so I can't lambast them too harshly.

As for the actions taken, it was a damned if they do, damned if they don't. The footage doesn't show the gorilla harming him at all, of course, but what if they tranquilised him and whilst it was taking effect (which can take some time) it angered him and he did lash out. Even the most well trained, passive animals can have fleeting moments of being uncontrollable and unpredictable without reason or explanation. That's all it would have taken for the boy to die. The zoo would have been in even more hot water over that. It was an impossible, horrible, decision to make but 100% the right one, in my opinion. It's not that human life matters more than animal life, and the zoo does have to accept some fairly high level of responsibility for it being able to happen in the first place, but weighing up the evidence we have they made the right call.

This is exactly my thoughts on the matter.

The majority of posts that I have seen on Facebook and comments in person (and it seems similarly so on here too) are less specifically about the gorilla being shot dead and more about the bigger picture with the concept and treatment of zoos in general. The Zoo did all they could in the circumstances, but it would seem things need to be altered to deter from said circumstances.
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