The Gorilla They Killed at Cincinnati Zoo

Frosted Cake · ‎02-01-2016

Not sure if this was posted yet, but this whole story makes me sad and angry.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/28/us/zoo-kills-gorilla/index.html

The world lost a beautiful endangered animal. I'm glad the child is going to be fine, but please tell me where the parents were in all of this? One onlooker said the child told the mother he wanted to go in the pen with the gorilla, and the mother of course said no. At that point, and being an observant parent, I would have made sure the child was close to me and not able to go near the barriers. As a parent, you know once the idea is in their heads, they will want to do it.

Experts say the screams of onlookers startled the gorilla to where he ran and dragged the child with him. Certainly, I wouldn't want the child to die at the hands of this gorilla, but it wasn't the animal's fault.

It was human error plain and simple. The parents should not have let that boy near the enclosure enough so that he could slip inside.

I'm sure the parents will be on all the TV talk shows and will be talking to a literary agent soon for the book deal.

Bless the Beasts & the Children!

ValuSkr · ‎03-15-2014

Yes, a book deal must be in the offing.

Has anyone said whether the zoo was at fault for having insufficient barriers? Or was this an exceptionally precocious child?

Plaid Pants2 · ‎03-14-2015

@Frosted Cake

Be prepaired to get blasted for not putting a warning in the title.

I don't know why they couldn't have tranqued the gorilla, or tried to lure him to an indoor inclosure, in order to rescue the kid.

My memory is fuzzy, but I think I remember hearing a story years ago, when another child fell in to a gorilla inclosure, and one of the gorillas actually took the little boy whose body was limp because he was knocked unconscious, over to the door the leads to the inside pen, where the handlers could rescue the child.

But, as I said, my memory is fuzzy on that, so I may be wrong.

I found the story. It happened in 1996.

Here's the sory:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/08/16/15-years-ago-today-gorilla-rescues-boy-who-fell-in-ape-pit/

tends2dogs · ‎05-08-2010

I have been to this zoo. It was many years ago when our children were children. Let me just say this "I HATE ZOOS."

Why I ever agreed to go, I can't remember. I hate the reasoning that people and/or children need to see these animals up close and personal. WHY???? These creatures need to be left in their own habitat. The thing I remember most about that place were the penguins. They were in this glassed in freezer, for lack of a better term. They were standing in a row with their backs to the people gawking at them - yes, I was one of them SMH. I think they had there backs turned because they didn't want people staring at them......

This is a sad day for animal lovers. Of course they had to save the child, but how was it even possible for a child to get inside where this animal was? I didn't read the article. The title said it all and was enough for me...

Fear not Brothers and Sisters! I have read THE BOOK..........we win!!!

ValuSkr · ‎03-15-2014

The gorilla's handlers said a tranquilizer wouldn't have taken immediate effect, and it could have sent him into a rage. Since the gorilla had physical custody of the child, handlers thought they had no choice but to kill him instantly.

hoosieroriginal · ‎03-04-2012

The loss of a beautiful animal because of idiotic parents. I hope no one allows them to talk on tv about this incident - they were at fault, not the zoo.

MomCat · ‎09-12-2010

I am involved in animal rescue and we have a saying that we often hate people. Now I can say I hate parents. Ugh.

jubilant · ‎06-10-2010

This is such a sad story. I am glad the little boy will be alright. Who knows where the blame lies? Were the parents negligent or did they just turn away for a few seconds? Why was it possible for anyone to fall into this gorillas territory? The child wasn't protected and therefore put the animal in harms way, too. This zoo bears some of the responsibility, imo. With that said, I can see they had no choice but to put the gorilla down. The little child had to come first.....we all know that.

Perhaps children under a certain age shouldn't be allowed in certain parts of a zoo. I rescued a child trying to climb a fence once at a zoo, and just on the other side of it was a great big old crocodile sunning itself just a few feet away. Another small child only about 2 or 3. Maybe they don't belong at a zoo that young.

What even makes it more sad is this gorilla seemed (in the video I watched) to be protecting that child. Not to mention it was an endangered species. I shed a few tears for this great massive creature.

Frosted Cake · ‎02-01-2016

When things like this happen, "it's never the parents fault."

They wlll probably find a way to sue the zoo. I hate zoos too. But guests to the zoo must use their heads in interacting with the animals.

There was an incident where Iive where parents let their kid run around in a store with bare feet. The kid walked on some sharp object and cut his foot badly. They sued the store for recklessness. Really? I see parents in the park on a summer day when it's over 90 degrees letting their kids run around on hot pavement barefoot. But, of course, it's not their fault if the kid gets burned feet.

Kids are kids. They will do what they want. Parents need to parent.

Frosted Cake · ‎02-01-2016

@jubilant wrote:
This is such a sad story. I am glad the little boy will be alright. Who knows where the blame lies? Were the parents negligent or did they just turn away for a few seconds? Why was it possible for anyone to fall into this gorillas territory? The child wasn't protected and therefore put the animal in harms way, too. This zoo bares some of the responsibility, imo. With that said, I can see they had no choice but to put the gorilla down. The little child had to come first.....we all know that.

Perhaps children under a certain age shouldn't be allowed in certain parts of a zoo. I rescued a child trying to climb a fence once at a zoo, and just on the other side of it was a great big old crocodile sunning itself just a few feet away. Another small child only about 2 or 3.

What even makes it more sad is this gorilla seemed (in the video I watched) to be protecting that child. Not to mention it was an endangered species. I shed few tears for this great massive creature.

I'm so glad you brought that up. The gorilla was holding the child initially before the onlookers started to react and scared him. I agree with you totally about some exhibits should be off limits to children of a certain age. Thank you for your touching comments.