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Original poster

An endangered gorilla has been shot dead after a 4-yo fell into its zoo enclosure

675 replies

AdrenalineFudge · 29/05/2016 20:32

Why the fuck has this happened... again - to another endangered species?

A little boy fell into an enclosure and the zoo staff decided the best course of action was to shoot the gorilla dead.

I'm not even sure who I'm most angry at. This should not have happened in the first place.

OP posts:
Thisismyfirsttime · 30/05/2016 22:03

I'm sorry if this has been mentioned/ asked before (I usually do rtft before posting) but if there was a marksman on scene to shoot the gorilla why couldn't they give tranquillising it a go first? In some news reports I've read they didn't want to tranquillise in case it angered him or he fell on the child but he could have turned on the child at any point, or fallen on him with the fatal shot. I know it would have taken time to work on the gorilla and that if they'd misfired the tranquilliser dose it would be fatal for the child but so would a bullet misfired? And if he'd turned aggressive after the dart the marksman was there to shoot to kill as he did? If it were my child or my zoo at risk I might think differently I know but does anyone know why?

NeedACleverNN · 30/05/2016 22:07

thisismtfirsttime please read the full thread

The tranq theory has already been discussed at length

Fairuza · 30/05/2016 22:08

That would have been a pretty massive risk to take with the child's life This - tranquilise it, make it pissed off and disorientated and then hope if it does rip the child apart someone can shoot it dead in time?

Nataleejah · 30/05/2016 22:09

Hard to say about security. I'm thinking of London Sea Life. It would take nothing for an unsupervised toddler to fall in and drown in the ray pond. The wall is low enough for people to feed and closely observe the fishes, not to protect naughty children.

Family-friendly places doesn't mean they are all rubber-padded playgrounds that you don't need to exercise caution

FuzzyWizard · 30/05/2016 22:11

Tranquillisers take up to ten whole minutes to work. In that time the gorilla would potentially be agitated and disorientated. It isn't like in the movies where they keel over pretty much instantaneously.

Nataleejah · 30/05/2016 22:13

Yeah, but the other question was about the kill bullet. What if it missed the target and hit the child instead?

FuzzyWizard · 30/05/2016 22:15

They didn't not use a tranquilliser because it might have hit the child, they didn't use a tranquilliser because it wouldn't have worked in terms of keeping the boy safe.

NeedACleverNN · 30/05/2016 22:16

yeah, but the other question was about the kill bullet. What if it missed the target and hit the child instead?

A tranq dart can "bounce" off if they hit muscle or bone. Bullets can't

Bearbehind · 30/05/2016 22:18

They didn't not use a tranquilliser because it might have hit the child

This comment has been made before and is fucking ridiculous.

Why was the bullet that killed the animal any less likely to hit the child? Hmm

FuzzyWizard · 30/05/2016 22:21

I think you've misunderstood what I was trying to say. I don't think the tranquilliser hitting the child was what they were worried about... All of the animal experts I've seen comments from have said that the reason they didn't use a tranquilliser is because it could have meant a disorientated, agitated gorilla stumbling about for 10 whole minutes before the tranquilliser worked.

RufusTheReindeer · 30/05/2016 22:22

The mother took her eyes off her child for one minute

That does not make her neglectful, stupid, a bitch, an ape murderer (ffs)

Anyone who says that they have never taken their eyes off their child for a single minute is a fucking liar

The child should have been unable to access the enclosure

There are tragedies every day, children die in back garden fish ponds , on driveways, tangled in window blinds.

Thisismyfirsttime · 30/05/2016 22:24

Sorry! As I said I should have read. I do get that a tranquilliser takes time to work but I was thinking along the lines of dartman darting and marksman marking if need be after dart was issued. I can see that it's been done, teaches me to rtft!

Bearbehind · 30/05/2016 22:25

Sorry fuzzy, missed a 'not' there.

FuzzyWizard · 30/05/2016 22:26

No worries. Reading it back it's not the best constructed sentence I've ever written.

Bearpeep · 30/05/2016 22:35

The quotes from the family statement posted earlier appear to have missed a paragraph. The omitted paragraph states:

"We extend our heartfelt thanks for the quick action by the Cincinnati Zoo staff. We know that this was a very difficult decision for them, and that they are grieving the loss of their gorilla."

NeedACleverNN · 30/05/2016 22:41

Now THAT I agree with bear

Wordsaremything · 30/05/2016 22:42

Carefully crafted by their lawyer, no doubt.

GreaseIsNotTheWord · 30/05/2016 22:43

Rufus completely agree.

I lost ds2 on a beach for five whole minutes...a busy beach, when the tide was half in, and there were deep rock pools all around. He was 18 months.

We had just arrived and I said to dh 'Watch ds2, while I find the suncream' and he replied OK. What he thought i'd said was 'I'll watch ds2, can you find the suncream'.

Which resulted in us both taking our eyes off him and rummaging through our bags...and by the time we both looked up 30 seconds later and realised, he'd already completely vanished.

That was the longest and scariest five minutes of my life. Anything could have happened. He could have wandered up to the road and caused a horrendous car crash. He could have drowned, been abducted, strolled up the cliff path and fallen 100ft off.

Mistakes happen and it doesn't mean the parents are neglectful, uncaring or anything other than fucking human and capable of error. I agree with those that say the enclosure should not have been so easily accessible to such a young child. The zoo are at fault IMO.

Bearpeep · 30/05/2016 22:46

The incident will be getting investigated by the authorities wordsaremything so it's highly likely that both the family and the zoo will have been told not to mention anything that could prejudice the investigation. This would include issuing any sort of apology.

RufusTheReindeer · 30/05/2016 22:48

grease you must have been beside yourselves

We lost ds2 on weymouth beach when he was about 2

Someone took him from just behind my chair and took him to lost children

Very scary as we only took our eyes off him for a minute or two to deal with unhappy ds1

Nataleejah · 30/05/2016 22:50

Its like a fatal car crash. Nobody means to cause one. But it happened because one driver made a wrong move. Was inexperienced, got distracted, was speeding, etc. Meanwhile another driver's child got killed.

RufusTheReindeer · 30/05/2016 22:51

No nat

The driver accidentally ran over a dog

In your analagy

Nataleejah · 30/05/2016 22:58

No, it's only the other driver's car manufacturers fault they didn't have airbags

GreaseIsNotTheWord · 30/05/2016 23:00

Definitely Rufus. But you know what, before that I probably would have been of the superior opinion that of course it was the parents fault and how stupid would you have to be to lose your own child.

Generally, you don't think it can or would ever happen to you until it does. No one is immune from a mistake.

Wordsaremything · 30/05/2016 23:01

I still don't understand logically why shooting the guerilla with the ape still presumably in the close vicinity of the child was a safer option than a tranquilliser dart potentially bouncing off and hitting the kid?

Yes of course both sides will have been advised to say nothing to impute blame/responsibility.

The God stuff was perfectly ludicrous though.

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