4 year old boy falls into gorilla enclosure at US zoo

[littleducks]

The gorilla was then shot. Really shocked at this (daily mail suggests a similar incident occurred 30 years ago in Jersey).

m.wlwt.com/news/video-gorilla-grabs-child-whos-fallen-into-habitat/39774904

How sad. I hope the little boy is OK.

Zoo totally at fault IMO. Its 21st century, they shouldnt need to be reminded that children climb and to make that impossible.

He was in the enclosure for ten minutes, he wasn't dragged around for ten minutes. The official police report suggests between two and three minutes "within close range" of the gorilla.

Once the gorilla reacted to him violently, they had no choice but to shoot. Sedating a gorilla isn't quick and there was too much of a risk that the dart would richochet and hit the boy, or the darter would miss. The level of sedative needed to quickly sedate a large male gorilla would usually be fatal to a four year old child.

The police report says the child appears to have non life threatening injuries.

Im sad for the gorilla, and the boy. There were a lot of failings here, and they both suffered.

Arf at the poster questioning the use of straps/reims on a 4 yr old.

hell yes. if your child is likely to wander off why not

people used to glare at me when I tied my dd to posts But tlif something took both hands and I'm. stood at a bus stop by a road I'm going to do what it takes to keep my child safe.

after all I'd be judged if she'd legged it too.

in a crowded place where it would he easy to become separated or a child mistake someone fir being a parent as they had the same buggy or t shirt etc then absolutely sod opinions and use the straps.

better than ending up in a gorilla pen surely?

Where is the sympathy for the child? The poor boy may be traumatised for the rest of his life. 10 minutes is a long bloody time, it's the stuff of nightmares for the mother and the child.

It should never have happened, but of course the gorilla needed to be shot dead.

Well, sedating the gorilla was obviously not a possibility, it takes too long to work... The zoo should be sued so nothing like this happens again! A 4yo could enter the enclosure... If this was a teen or an adult i would understand the outrage, but this is a child!

And yes, I'd always prioritise the child. I'd personally shoot the gorilla..

I'm a bit surprised by the poor gorilla comments. Do you eat meat? If yes, why aren't you outrage about killing the chicken/cow/pig/lamb (that isn't a danger to anybody, btw) but say "poor gorilla" (that's actually dragging around the kid)?

Agree with you firesidechat
(Was it last week a man throw himself into a lions enclosure & they shoot the loin?) they need to protect both animals & visitor

Agree with you firesidechat
(Was it last week a man throw himself into a lions enclosure & they shoot the loin?) they need to protect both animals & visitor

When zoos are first built, and every couple of years thereafter, they should be tested for security.

A coach load of children of varying ages should be brought in. They should be offered sweets/games/toys (whatever is age appropriate) if they can manage to get into the enclosures.

I lost my DS at the zoo once. Worst 20 minutes of my life. I can assure everyone I'm not negligent but unfortunately I am also not an owl nor do I have eyes in the back of my head. We all know how easily and quickly kids can slip off.

It's a terrible shame about the gorilla but people bleating about tranquillisers don't know what they're talking about and ultimately a child is more important than an animal.

twitter.com/Amber_Soler/status/736785301079629825?s=09

I'm a bit surprised by the poor gorilla comments. Do you eat meat? If yes, why aren't you outrage about killing the chicken/cow/pig/lamb (that isn't a danger to anybody, btw) but say "poor gorilla" (that's actually dragging around the kid)?

A bit different. Farm animals are bred to be eaten and there are lots of them.

Gorillas are an endangered species and every life counts. So yes poor gorilla. I don't deny that shooting him was the only option. It was. But we can still be upset by the loss of a valuable breeding male

plus he was absolutely let down by the very people emabt to be taking care of him.

course it's "poor gorilla"

he died.

fir just being a gorilla.

FFS, I eat meat, but I don't eat gorillas and tigers. What a stupid argument.

Gorillas are highly intelligent and endangered. Last time I checked, neither was true of chickens.

I've volunteered at a zoo anD to shoot animals is the policy now, I believe. No one likes it, but sadly humans have to come first. I say this as a vegan buy poor harambe it was his birthday too :(

We're not 'bleating' about tranquillisers I and other posters asked why they couldn't have been used and we were told why they couldn't. No need to be rude regarding a 'teaching moment'.

And it's a fair question regarding tranquillisers. They are showed so much on tv that not everyone knows it doesn't always work. Or that they can be lethal to humans.

I think if the spectators weren't being so loud, Harambe would've been calmer. One site says the boy was in the enclosure 6 minutes before he was approached. Why didn't they tranquilise him then? When he was away from the child. But obviously we haven't seen it in that moment- It would've been very scary.

You can be upset, obviously. I'm not saying what you can or can't feel. I just don't share the sentiment. If I compare shooting a gorilla to possibly losing the boy...

And anyhow, even though these farm animals aren't endangered they aren't a danger to little children either. They are killed for the pleasure of eating meat whereas the gorilla was killed for safety reasons. Wich is also a bit different.

Definitely poor gorilla. Poor poor thing. Yes the parents should have been watching more closely. Yes the zoo should have had bettet processes in place. An endangered animal does not deserve to die because of something like this.

Course farm animals can be dangerous? Have you seen a cow when they are pissed off? They are heavy animals.

I think if the spectators weren't being so loud, Harambe would've been calmer

probably.

the screams and shouts etc would have been hugely stressful fir the gorillas. animals react in.all.sorts of ways when they feel threatened.

can take a situation from being able to be solved by luring onto inside enclosures with food to the need to shoot the poor things fir the very reaction.humans caused in the first place.

I've only ever seen tranquilisers used on TV where the animal has loads of space to wobble around and fall down. Same when they counteract the sedative. They inject then stand well back. For safety.

Of course I'm not saying it's the fault of people watching. They'd be in shock. Watch the twitter link above, the boy is definitely dragged around quite quickly which could be very dangerous especially if he had injuries.
I think it is extremely sad but if the boy had been killed, they'd probably put Harambe to sleep anyway.

I suppose the difference is that farm animals are domesticated, well used to the presence and proximity of humans and mostly their actions/reactions can be predicted.

A gorilla is a wild animal and even though they look a bit like us they're not domesticated in any way. It's dangerous to assume they act like us.

Look at the comments about Jambo when the little lad fell into his enclosure at Jersey zoo. People thinking he was "guarding" the child from the other gorillas. He was far more likely to have been guarding the other gorillas from the child and could well have done the child some real damage in the blink of an eye if he'd suddenly decided to.

Just seen the Twitter link 😦😦

Just goes to show - we might look at a gorilla and see a large hairy human but they don't look at us and see a small harmless naked gorilla. Seeing that poor child pulled around is terrifying.

Idiot adults on both sides. Parents should have been supervising and the zoo should have ensured fencing was sufficient to stop anyone trying to get into the cage. Poor gorilla, and poor kid.

There was a case a few years ago in Dublin where some thick got drunk and decided to climb over fencing, get into the keepers area and stick her hand in to the tiger enclosure. Unfortunately when you're dealing with the public, people do mad things everywhere.