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

The female gorillas sharing the enclosures will probably be very stressed and confused now that their male has gone

God they should have a quick response to clear the area immediately - all those screaming kids and adults wouldn't have helped.

I don't think zoo staff were immediately aware. And yes the spectators screaming the probably didn't help.

It doesn't matter to the cow that is killed and eaten that it was bred for it, and it doesn't matter that a chicken is less intelligent as intelligence doesn't correlate with suffering.

Yes it's sad for the gorilla but if you think the gorilla's life is more important to it than the life of a chicken or a cow is to them, then you're deluded. It doesn't matter that they were bred for it. To each animal its own life is important - they don't form an orderly queue at the slaughterhouse!

It's just that humans are sentimental towards cute animals and don't like to consider the uncomfortable truth about production animals, so we tell ourselves 'they were bred for it' so that we feel more comfortable. From the animals point of view it's still a miserable life and an unpleasant death.

But the cow and chicken are used after death (eaten). They have a purpose

Dead gorilla does nothing. It's just dead

Cows and chickens are not endangered, so breeding programmes are not having to be set up to protect their very existence. The two scenarios are incomparable.

And the death of one cow doesn't have the same effect on breeding programmes around the world nor does it impact on the worldwide population of an endangered species.

oh and species are usually only endangered as a result of humans destroying habitat, poaching, needlessly killing fir sport etc

if humans weren't humans they'd be no need fir zoos amd these.programmes in the first place.

A gorilla is hardly 'cute' and I've never known of one to be in a queue at a slaughterhouse. Your argument is ridiculous and bears no correlation at all to this tragic event Veterinari

The poor child he must have been terrified.
Sad all round.

Now, over 100,000 western lowland gorillas are thought to exist in the wild, with 4,000 in zoos; eastern lowland gorillas have a population of 4,000 in the wild and 24 in zoos. Mountain gorillas are the most severely endangered, with an estimated population of about 620 left in the wild and none in zoos.

The gorilla in the zoo was a western lowland which is not the rarest but still a significant member. If it was a mountain gorilla it could have decimated the breeding program (though I am aware as it stands there are no mountain gorillas in captivity)

The two scenarios are incomparable.
Yes, I absolutely agree. Farm animals are killed because people want to eat meat, not because they're dragging around little kids...

Farm animals are killed because people want to eat meat

Farm animals are bred because people are omnivores, ergo, eating meat is part of their existence. I really cannot understand how this has conversation has gone from an endangered animal in a breeding programme having to be shot because of negligence (from either zoo personnel or bad parenting) to the usual boring debate from vegetarians telling us we shouldn't be eating meat. Yawn

Gorillas are endangered, humans are not.

Your point Sunnsoo?

The only people at fault here are the Zoo, for not ensuring their enclosure railings were secure enough to prevent people getting access to the enclosure.

According to reports, the boy crawled through some railings.

The boy and the gorilla, and the boys parents are all victims.

I the parents are going to sure the arse off the zoo I imagine. No zoo should have an enclosure where a kid can get in. Yes parents should watch their kids but I imagine the majority of parents have had that time when a child ran off in a shop/disappeared/or you took your eyes off them for a minute but maybe you were lucky and they didn't run.

They're going to get compensation for the trauma as it is. If the kid had been killed the compensation would have been much more.

Watching that Twitter link has made me so angry.

'Mommy loves you'

Maybe don't take your eyes off him for long enough that he can squeeze through railings and fall into a fucking gorilla enclosure then, eh?

Poor gorilla. I am sure the boy and his parents will have learned their lesson, unfortunately an endangered animal had to die for it to happen.

To those saying they can imagine how easily this happened, I take it you don't take your own kids to the zoo ever then in case they get away from you long enough to get into an enclosure? Zoo bears some responsibility also but neglectful (at best) parenting. Ffs

From the small bits of the video I did wonder if the gorilla was trying to look after the boy like the gorilla in Jersey. I haven't seen the video of the dragging about bit but was he trying to get him out the water or just to stop him from going to the other gorillas? Guess we will never know.

I always think they're such an intelligent and generally a gentle species.

But I do understand why they shot him. It would have only taken one swipe, either in anger or fear or just a case or not realising his own strength and that boy would have been killed.

YoureSoSlyButSoAmI, some people sugested that the slaughter of farm animals isn't really an issue because pigs aren't an endangered species. Well, are children endangered...?

I'd shoot the remaining 620 mountain gorillas myself it this saved a child's life. But I still feel compassion for farm animals that are slaughtered for pleasure.

I also wonder why the parents didn't jump in? Maybe the railing gap was too small for them to get through?

Good question. Maybe they didn't jump in because they were afraid it would provoke the gorillas?

Simon, seriously? It would have been even worse if the parents jumped in!

The enclosure looked pretty big on the videos, its lucky the boy stayed in sight.

I don't know. I just think that's what my instinct as a parent would be to get the gorilla to come over to me and then leave my kid alone even if that meant I was killed. Just to buy some time thinking the zoo workers must be coming.

But I get it's easy to think that sat on my sofa!