Killing the Gorilla

From what I read, that child had to get through three different kinds of barriers. It must have taken some time for the parents to notice he was gone.

To what extent do zoos have to go? I think a lot of this falls on the parents. The zoo agrees to put up the protection that it feels is sufficient, and the parents should agree to mind their children.

I feel sad about the gorilla, and I feel sorry for the zookeepers that cared for it. It must have been a devastating decision.

Parents at fault...that poor child and the beautiful animal...so sad...

There was an interview of a bystander. She said the little boy kept saying he wanted to go in and the mom kept telling him no but she also had "several" other small kids with her (no specific number or ages) Apparently she was distracted by the needs of the other kids which gave him time to get through the barriers.

I don't think there is anything more the zoo could do unless all exhibits are indoor glass which is more restrictive than an already restrictive environment for the animals. I understand why they chose to kill the gorilla but I'm not happy about it.

I do think the family needs investigated to see if she has more kids than she can handle or if she is running a day care and needs shut down.

I think the whole thing is sad. The zoo should sue the parents for loss of this gorilla. Who exactly shot the gorilla? and how close were they? didn't they endanger the child by doing that? Yea, not sure why they didn't use a tranquilizer either, or try to lure him away, and then grab the kid. It doesn't seem like a lot of thought went in to it??

Build a better mousetrap, I'll find you a better mouse.

Wasn't it just last week that a mentally ill man crawled into a lion enclosure at a zoo somewhere and they killed the lions to get him out? Both situations are terribly sad.

ETA: Yep, it was in Chile. www.cnn.com/2016/05/22/americas/chile-zoo-lions-naked-suicide-trnd/

They showed more of the video today, showing the gorilla dragging the child. I guess the news establishment wanted not to show the terrifying picture OR wanted to paint a picture that the child wasn't in danger and wanted to spark anger over the killing of the gorilla.

Accidents happen, I praise the zoo staff in making the only decision that would save the life of an innocent child.

I'm not a fan of zoos, but they do conserve endangered species, of which this gorilla was one, so I do get it on some level.

Agreed. Reputable zoos, and the Cincinnati Zoo is one, do so much research and conservation work. It's not just a matter of amusing humans.

Zoos were at one time an amusement, but that is no longer true. Our motto is " touch the heart to teach the mind". ... One of our goals is to get people to care. Then we want to educate them about the animal and the threats to its survival. People have to care before they act. Finally, our zoo participates in and contributes money to all kinds of species survival programs around the world. Would you believe a zoo in Ohio propagates coral and then takes it back to the wild. We (along with the Cincinnati zoo) are one of the few places outside Florida that rehabs manatees.

I am certain they tried their emergency recall... The females did go in, but not the male. Zoos do work on training animals to come in at a certain signal. Then they get a special treat. ( our brown bears get pie filing!!). But sometimes the disruption is more intriguing . ( our polar bears were once
Much more excited about the goose they caught than the treat offered when the emergency recall was sounded)

Tranquilizers hurt, cause upset (our keepers showed a video of a gorilla grabbing the dart and throwing it back at them) and take time to take effect. People screaming (mommy loves you!!??). were making him even more agitated.

Without knowing the entire story, I don't think blame can be immediately placed on the parent(s). 3 year olds are wiley, determined, fast-moving little people. It is a shame that the gorilla had to be killed, but the safety of the child was more important.
There are plenty of times where I have seen parents not paying attention to their kids in public places, but without knowing what exactly happened here, I am not going to jump to judge the parents.

People do incredibly stupid things when it comes to animals.

When Animal Kingdom first opened they had to keep a supply of t-shirts shirts at the exit of the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail because guests would come through, yell/taunt/try to throw things at the family and bachelor troops, then get hacked off when the gorillas threw poop at them (and they had very good aim). They now have cast members on the bridges in the open areas, and signs indicating it is a quiet area.

I will say that sometimes even the best measures can't keep people out/animals in. One morning our test truck came through one of the cattle guards and found two male cheetahs standing in the ride path. Thankfully he was the first truck through (so it was empty) and they didn't get far.

I'm sure the zoo will be looking at all of their safety measures carefully to ensure it doesn't happen again. The whole situation is sad.

    This. The responsibility for this tragedy rests squarely on the shoulders of the child's caretaker. I only read the article linked by Voltagain and the saw the links with the video of the gorilla dragging the child. I don't know if it was the mother or a babysitter who took the 4 year old boy to the zoo along with 5 other children. Either way that woman is responsible for this tragedy in my mind. It was her responsibility that day to take care of those 6 children when she decided to take them on an outing to the zoo. Take care of those children meant making sure they were well cared for and didn't come to any harm. Including staying where they belonged in designated safe areas.

If it was too much for her (and yeah, no way in heck would I ever take 6 children on my own it's way too many in a zoo environment with the crowds and the chances for serious problems) she shouldn't have taken them there. The report I read said the boy of 4 told her repeatedly he wanted to go into the enclosure to see the gorilla so she had several warnings of what he wanted to do. If it were me I would have removed him and all of the other children from that area completely and we'd have gone somewhere else. That's if I'd ever taken 6 children to the zoo myself which I'd never do. 

This past summer my father (75) and I (55) took my 5 children downtown to DC to see the monuments and the Smithsonian. They ranged in age from 10-15 and 2 were visiting from Holland but all had been born on the street my father and mother live on and refer to him as their "grandfather". My father thanked me for coming saying there was no way he could handle all 5 by himself and I said to him I knew exactly what he was talking about. Even at their older ages the youngest at 10 had a tendency to "wander off" a wee bit and forget she was following all of us so my job was to keep track of her. The rest of them were very good kids and listened extremely well. Had there been 6 children under the ages of 8 I don't think we could have done it with 2 adults. 

I'm so angry that this endangered gorilla had to be killed because of this woman's lack of responsibility. Yes, I know it had to be done to save this boy's life. I saw the videos. But the fact of the matter is that boy would never have been down there in the first place if she'd taken her child care responsibility seriously. It isn't the zoo's fault. 

I myself don't hate zoos. I do understand that in order to make people care about saving animals you have to make them care about animals first, and the only way to do that is to have them see an animal face to face. How can you care about endangered gorillas if you've never seen one in person and looked into their eyes? What I do wish is that the number of zoos we have were reduced drastically to only the best. The ones who can provide the very best of habitats for the animals, as much as they can given that they are in captivity. Like the National Zoo in Washington DC and many others. I don't know enough about it but Scrapaddie sounds like she does. What I mean is I don't want every side show zoo to remain open because I hate to see those animals abused and left in horrible cages. If were are going to have zoos let's make them the best and get rid of the ones that don't treat the animals well. That's what I mean. 

All in all I think this woman should be charged for child neglect for something like that because it resulted in this horrible tragedy and especially because an endangered gorilla was killed because of her gross neglect. Getting away scott free isn't what should happen! Yeah, she will be shook up from this incidence but in my mind it isn't enough. Until we start charging these parents it will continue to happen. This seems to be the generation of "I'm not disciplining my child because I want to be their friend instead of their parent". A few very stern "No' and if you ask again you'll get a time out back in my day would have nipped that one right in the bud. And yes, I did take my son to the National Zoo many times and yes, we did time outs there and everywhere they were needed. 

Debbie in MD.