US: Ohio zoo kills gorilla to protect small child

[harada]

Sad story. I downloaded a pic of the gorilla. A stately beast. Particularly sad that his entire species is hanging by a thread and will be wiped out soon. Humans will last longer, maybe another 2,700 years, but are headed for the dustbin of species. We're the first technically 'intelligent' species, but won't be the last. There will probably be several other species which 'develop' to our level of gadgetry. They'll also have archaeologists who will look back in wonder (like we look back at dinosaurs), at the first species to do so much with technology - yet were so massively self-debilitating mentally.

Speaking of 'hanging by a thread'..... there used to be dugongs (manatees) along Thailand's Andaman coast. Now there are few, if any left. What are Thais doing to try and maintain a viable population? Nothing. A viable population would entail about 50 individuals and would need spacious natural (and protected!) habitat. If anyone reading this would like to coordinate some efforts toward establishing a preserve for dugongs in Thailand, let me know. I reside in northernmost Thailand, so I can't do much from here. I would endeavor to save wildlife up here in northern Thailand, but there's barely any wildlife left to save. No wild mammals here, larger than a rat.

. From what I've seen at the local markets it probably won't be long before rats join the endangered list, yummo.

[sirineou]

They had no choice really. A tranquilliser would have wound him up more initially. Sad as it is, and I'm all for the stupid humans theory, how would it look if the gorilla had torn his arms and legs off?

Yes, that is their defense. I'm not convinced, there are quite a few stories around of people being rescues from gorilla's in zoos by tranquilizing the gorilla.

Monday morning quarterbacking , ,

These zoo workers and officials loved that gorilla just as much and I am sure more than most in this forum.

A decision had to be made and made fast, the life of a Small child hung in the balance.

What would you or me have done in that situation?

If you are not convinced by their defense, what do you think was their real motivation?

Other children have fallen in in other places. How many were killed by the gorillas? It's not in their nature to kill small children. Small children are not a threat.

Every case is different, if the gorilla was acting in a nurturing non threatening way as in previous cases , it would had being handled differently

as it was , he was acting in an agitated dangerous way, and a different more difficult decision had to be made.

I am willing to bet, that if the zoo officials had hesitated and the child was killed or seriously injured. The same people critical to them in this thread,for taking firm action, would be critical for not acting more decisive.

[Kiwiken]

Sorry but I agree the Parent was negligent. The Child should have been restrained. Now another endangered animal is dead because of human stupidity. The Parents should at the least be sued for the cost of a replacement. Though personally Zoo,s should not be allowed to keep endangered species like this.

[sirineou]

Sorry but I agree the Parent was negligent. The Child should have been restrained. Now another endangered animal is dead because of human stupidity. The Parents should at the least be sued for the cost of a replacement. Though personally Zoo,s should not be allowed to keep endangered species like this.

Do you have any kids? Have you ever taken them to the zoo? Good parents always strive to find a balance between safety and freadom for their child. Not an easy job.

Plenty of fault to go around. The parents should have being more diligent, the zoo enclosure should have being better designed, etc etc

Let's all take a breath, be glad the child is safe, feel sorrow for the loss of this magnificent animal, and let's be real.

[Kiwiken]

Sorry but I agree the Parent was negligent. The Child should have been restrained. Now another endangered animal is dead because of human stupidity. The Parents should at the least be sued for the cost of a replacement. Though personally Zoo,s should not be allowed to keep endangered species like this.

Do you have any kids? Have you ever taken them to the zoo? Good parents always strive to find a balance between safety and freadom for their child. Not an easy job.

Plenty of fault to go around. The parents should have being more diligent, the zoo enclosure should have being better designed, etc etc

Let's all take a breath, be glad the child is safe, feel sorrow for the loss of this magnificent animal, and let's be real.

FYI I have 5 children all grown. Took them to wildlife parks and other areas with animals. Never let them out of Our sight and certainly never let go of them if there was even the slightest chance of them getting too close to danger. Now I have grandkids and thankfully no animals died because I could not control My Children.

[Grouse]

Sad story. I downloaded a pic of the gorilla. A stately beast. Particularly sad that his entire species is hanging by a thread and will be wiped out soon. Humans will last longer, maybe another 2,700 years, but are headed for the dustbin of species. We're the first technically 'intelligent' species, but won't be the last. There will probably be several other species which 'develop' to our level of gadgetry. They'll also have archaeologists who will look back in wonder (like we look back at dinosaurs), at the first species to do so much with technology - yet were so massively self-debilitating mentally.

Speaking of 'hanging by a thread'..... there used to be dugongs (manatees) along Thailand's Andaman coast. Now there are few, if any left. What are Thais doing to try and maintain a viable population? Nothing. A viable population would entail about 50 individuals and would need spacious natural (and protected!) habitat. If anyone reading this would like to coordinate some efforts toward establishing a preserve for dugongs in Thailand, let me know. I reside in northernmost Thailand, so I can't do much from here. I would endeavor to save wildlife up here in northern Thailand, but there's barely any wildlife left to save. No wild mammals here, larger than a rat.

Yes northern Thailand stripped bare of wildlife. I imagine sometime not long ago the NE was a very rich plain full of wildlife but now virtually nothing. And to top it off the million plus dogs in Thailand have eaten everything humans have not taken.

The soi dogs are a dangerous pest where I live. I hoped the guys taking dogs to Cambodia to be eaten would visit, but the d******ds stopped the trade before that could happen. Now they just breed indiscriminately and attack people. Shame.

Codswallop. Soi Dog, a charity, are castrating thousands of the animals at no charge. Coming to a Soi near you....

[tolsti]

Gorillas are an endangered species...kids are not. Bad decision

[sirineou]

Sorry but I agree the Parent was negligent. The Child should have been restrained. Now another endangered animal is dead because of human stupidity. The Parents should at the least be sued for the cost of a replacement. Though personally Zoo,s should not be allowed to keep endangered species like this.

Do you have any kids? Have you ever taken them to the zoo? Good parents always strive to find a balance between safety and freadom for their child. Not an easy job.

Plenty of fault to go around. The parents should have being more diligent, the zoo enclosure should have being better designed, etc etc

Let's all take a breath, be glad the child is safe, feel sorrow for the loss of this magnificent animal, and let's be real.

FYI I have 5 children all grown. Took them to wildlife parks and other areas with animals. Never let them out of Our sight and certainly never let go of them if there was even the slightest chance of them getting too close to danger. Now I have grandkids and thankfully no animals died because I could not control My Children.

Sure, not a personal attack on you, a rhetorical question on my part when I read stories like this I often think, "There by the grace of god goes I". As a successful parent of five children I am sure you would agree of the difficulty of balancing their need for safety, against their need for freedom, freedom to explore to learn, to grow. I know I always did and even though my daughter is now 20 years old, I still do. She was always a handful. I remember once when I got her an ATV, we took it to a field, she got on it , took off and disappeared in to the woods, while I stood there like an idiot, yelling Sam, Sam, come back , my heart palpitating. She came back 15 min later , big smile in her face Yahooing all the way needless to say, next day we went a bought an other ATV so I can keep up with her.

Not an easy part being a parent. Should the parents have kept a closer eye on their kid? Sure, do kids get away from you even when you are doing your best?,,,,,,,,, Let those with out a sin throw the first stone.

[ozyjon]

Again the gun triumphs,,,,

Two witnesses said they thought the gorilla was trying to protect the

boy at first before getting spooked by the screams of onlookers.

I watched the video many times and i agree that the gorilla was trying

to protect the boy, but i wasn't there and i didn't see the event.

[F430murci]

Lol, at some of the messed up people around here. You guys got some serious frickin baggage. Hilarious.

Sad incident. There should have been no way for the 4 year old to fall through. As a parent, I get the whole take your eyes off your kid one moment thing. It happens and tough to judge here without really knowing all of the facts.

As much as some of your miserable sots like to see human tragedies or just like to complain no matter what the outcome, I am sure the zoo did what needed to be done to ensure the child's safety and hated having to do it.

Edited May 30, 2016 by F430murci

[uptheos]

Police have said the parents of a four-year-old who climbed into a gorilla's enclosure could face criminal charges after staff were forced to kill the beloved animal.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3615783/Police-says-charges-brought-against-parents-4-year-old-climbed-tragic-17-year-old-gorilla-s-enclosure.html

[arunsakda]

Leading Primatologist Frans de Waal Weighs in on Controversy Surrounding Harambe, Gorilla Shot at Zoo

http://www.alternet.org/environment/rip-harambe

[stevenl]

Leading Primatologist Frans de Waal Weighs in on Controversy Surrounding Harambe, Gorilla Shot at Zoo

http://www.alternet.org/environment/rip-harambe

And those comments seem very sensible.

[OMGImInPattaya]

Sorry but I agree the Parent was negligent. The Child should have been restrained. Now another endangered animal is dead because of human stupidity. The Parents should at the least be sued for the cost of a replacement. Though personally Zoo,s should not be allowed to keep endangered species like this.

Do you have any kids? Have you ever taken them to the zoo? Good parents always strive to find a balance between safety and freadom for their child. Not an easy job.

Plenty of fault to go around. The parents should have being more diligent, the zoo enclosure should have being better designed, etc etc

Let's all take a breath, be glad the child is safe, feel sorrow for the loss of this magnificent animal, and let's be real.

7 billion plus people...a few thousand low-land gorillas...now tell me which one we can do without?

[meatboy]

They should have tranq'ed the gorilla instead of shooting him dead!

the mother was the danger to her own kid so WHY DIDNT THEY SHOOT HER FIRST.

[cheapcanuck]

The family will still sue and probably win a large judgement in their favour.

The zoo's lawyer is on it as we tweet. The're ready to make a preemptive offer before the print dries on this story.

[Henry89]

Also he said that he would that again to save a child

[arjunadawn]

You need to read the full story before you start blaming the zoo. Tranquilizers take time to work and by that point the crowd had worked the poor gorrilla into such a frenzy that the lethal option was the only one available

If you read and listen to the story , as told by the person who took the video, she constantly states that there was no real problems until the crowd started yelling. They got them to calm down for a few minutes and it looked like it could have been resolved favorable, but then they started up again and that was what caused the poor animal to become aggressive

Yes, I blame the mother for not watching the child, but the crowd because they couldn't control themselves, were the real bad guys in this story

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/29/us/cincinnati-zoo-gorilla-shot/

I was post before you. I'm not blaming the zoo. I think there should be no zoos at all. Zoos are prisons for other species. There's zero redeemable qualities in a superior species imprisoning the less powerful. If we noted this behavior in another species we would decry it's barbarity. This animal's only highlights this, to me.

Zoos are an exercise in power, force. No manner of rationalizing ancillary education benefits can change this fact.

You shouldn't offer someone did not read the story because you don't agree with their post.

Edited June 4, 2016 by arjunadawn

[arjunadawn]

Leading Primatologist Frans de Waal Weighs in on Controversy Surrounding Harambe, Gorilla Shot at Zoo

http://www.alternet.org/environment/rip-harambe

Brilliant. Thx.

[Boon Mee]

Wait, is this racially insensitive?

Ain't that the truth...

[thaibeachlovers]

Lol, at some of the messed up people around here. You guys got some serious frickin baggage. Hilarious.

Sad incident. There should have been no way for the 4 year old to fall through. As a parent, I get the whole take your eyes off your kid one moment thing. It happens and tough to judge here without really knowing all of the facts.

As much as some of your miserable sots like to see human tragedies or just like to complain no matter what the outcome, I am sure the zoo did what needed to be done to ensure the child's safety and hated having to do it.

As a very young child travelling on a ship my mother used a leash and harness to stop me running off and falling overboard. There is no excuse for any parent to not control their child.

Perhaps it is not PC to restrain children now, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible.

If parents won't control their young children, perhaps they should be banned from dangerous exhibits to protect the animals.