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News

4 year old boy falls into gorilla enclosure at US zoo

216 replies

littleducks · 29/05/2016 10:06

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

OP posts:
MumOnTheRunCatchingUp · 29/05/2016 22:13

It looked fairly crowded. I wonder why no other person in the crowd tried to stop the boy gaining entry

MrsSpecter · 29/05/2016 22:14

There appeared to be a lot of bushes/green stuff right at the boundary (looking at the video) so he could easily have gone through without anyone at all seeing him.

KurriKurri · 29/05/2016 22:17

How do you know the parents in question Arent disgusted with themselves?

I don't.
I didn't say I did.
I hope they are.

NoCapes · 29/05/2016 22:19

Oh god that last video was hard to watch
And the mum sounded so calm, I'm sure she wasn't but I'm sure I'd be a crying screaming mess if that was my child
Poor poor boy he must've been so frightened Sad

SouthWestmom · 29/05/2016 22:19

Just read through that Twitter account. Looks like it's making money for the family that took it.

SouthWestmom · 29/05/2016 22:19

Just read through that Twitter account. Looks like it's making money for the family that took it.

MrsSpecter · 29/05/2016 22:20

The family that filmed it? Are they making money off the video?

Not sure of your point then kurri

MrsSpecter · 29/05/2016 22:21

nocapes i had to watch it with the sound down. Its really awful.

KurriKurri · 29/05/2016 22:29

I'm not sure of yours MrsSpector. Maybe we should agree to be bemused by each others arguments.

Lilmisskittykat · 29/05/2016 22:30

I hope the parents get investigated for child neglect.. Who doesn't watch their children whilst out?
Now a beautiful rare creature has died cause of questionable parenting. It's a sad sad day. The poor keepers that looked after and cared for that gorilla having to make a choice like that.

Fairuza · 29/05/2016 22:31

Lilmiss I would guess that almost every parent, especially those with more than one child, have at some point not been watching all of their children whilst out.

MrsSpecter · 29/05/2016 22:32

I was wondering what point you were making by saying "If my stupidity had caused an endangered animal to be destroyed I would have been disgusted with myself."?

MrsSpecter · 29/05/2016 22:33

Now a beautiful rare creature has died cause of questionable parenting.

And an unsecured enclosure. Which wasnt anything to do with the child's parents.

SouthWestmom · 29/05/2016 22:39

No the spectator who filmed it. I don't know how I feel , it seems a bit 'off' but maybe modern day?

CantGetYouOutOfMyHead · 29/05/2016 22:42

Children are mischievous.
Human life is most precious.
Wild animals are unpredictable.
Above all considerations, the child had to be rescued asap, and that meant the unpredictable gorilla had to be killed.
Poor gorilla, and all, but imo this was absolutely the right course of action, and angsting about blaming the parents, the zoo, or the child is irrelevant at the moment the decision needed to be taken. And it needed to be taken swiftly. I hope the family and little boy recover well.

MrsSpecter · 29/05/2016 22:47

Yes it does seem a bit off, if true that they are making money off it.

KurriKurri · 29/05/2016 22:48

Ah - OK - I was replying to the two previous posts which said effectively that we can't be perfect parents all the time, and all normal parents take their eyes off their children at some point.
What I meant was that in special circumstances where there is potential danger then parents need to be extra vigilant, they need to predict that accident are a hazard if you do not watch your children properly. Therefore if I was near a gorilla enclosure and not watching - indeed holding on to - my child, i would consider myself to be negligent and therefore disgusted that my neglect and incompetence in predicatable dangerous circumstances had led to the destruction of an animal.

Some times accidents happen that are totally unpredicatable or indeed as you mention a child behaves in an out of character way - and if a child is harmed that is tragic, but a zoo with huge wild animals in open enclosures?- At 4yrs old that's an obvious 'hold my hand' and 'watch like them like hawk' situation. It takes longer than a split second for a child to wriggle through a fence.

thetoothfairywhoforgot · 29/05/2016 22:49

I find it very ironic that Ohio, like many states in the US only banned the keeping of exotic animals as pets in 2012. That would include chimps and tigers, both species that would be on the list of most dangerous animals in a zoo and easily on par with a gorilla.

I'm not up to date on the rest of the USA so there may still be states where this is legal. There are many dubious 'facilities' there. I have heard that there are more tigers in Texas than in the wild.

SouthWestmom · 29/05/2016 22:50

I don't really know, the Twitter feed linked above had the video and then she adds another one, saying 'i lied, this has more' or something. Someone says she shouldn't give them away free and she says she's already in touch with various agencies. Journos are directed to an email address.

NeedsAsockamnesty · 29/05/2016 22:52

Have you never experanced one child going in one direction whilst the other goes in another, or one child falls the other does not or well pretty much any normal situation that results in you having to pay more attention to one than the other?

I have (and I can't move very fast) which is why trips out to busy or more risky places only happen if I can do a 1:1 adult to child ratio but very few parents with more than 2 kids have that luxury

MrsSpecter · 29/05/2016 22:53

Well we all like to hope we would be the perfect example of parenting in that situation but kids have a wonderful knack of throwing you a curveball and you would be lying if you said you would never get distracted by a younger sibling throwing a tantrum or whatever. It happens, it doesnt always happen in the most convenient of places. No-one can say until they are in that situation.

MrsSpecter · 29/05/2016 22:58

My eldest DS decided to play up massively out of the blue on a shopping trip when he was 7. I had younger DS(3) with me at the time in his buggy. Older DS was usually the one i could depend in to behave but whatever happened that day he just had enough and without warning took off to hide amongst some clothes. I was so shocked i went straight after him completely forgetting that DS2 could undo his straps. Which he did whilst i was looking for Ds1 and before i knew it i had two DC giving me a wild goose chase round a clothes shop. I literally could not keep my eyes on both of them at the same time. I was so angry with them both afterwards, and mortified that people saw it all but that didnt change the fact that it happened and if one of them had run out of the shop it wasnt because i wasnt doing what i should have been.

Ratbagcatbag · 30/05/2016 08:13

God that video chilled me. I'm not sure it meant harm as I'm not a gorilla expert but that poor boy being dragged through the water like that. It must have been terrifying. It's also horrific that a magnificent animal has lost its life too. I don't think there are any winners in this case. The parents have released a statement thanking the zoo for their difficulty action and know they are grieving (paraphrased a lot there).

HappydaysArehere · 30/05/2016 09:44

Must admit we were horrified by the shooting as it looked to us, although we might be wrong, as if the gorilla was trying to look after him.

MrsSpecter · 30/05/2016 09:46

It doesnt matter what the gorrilla was trying to do. He could have been trying to protect him but his actions were putting the child at serious risk. His intentions were irrelevant and they cant exactly shout down and ask him what he plans to do. He was hurting the boy, he very possibly could have killed him.

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