After a four-year-old boy climbed through the barriers surrounding the gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo, he fell into the enclosure. While the two female gorillas immediately retreated after being called for, the male gorilla approached the boy. The child was in the enclosure with the gorilla for ten to fifteen minutes before the decision was made to shoot the gorilla in order to save the child’s life.

Many people are calling the child’s mother negligent, while others are defending the mother. I have found myself siding with the latter. While I am not a parent, I have watched young children for extended periods of time. I know that children can achieve about anything in the blink of an eye. No matter how closely you watch them, sometimes things inevitably happen. It seems like if you turn your back for one second to get something for one child, the other child can make it from Illinois to Texas in half that amount of time.

I do not know if this mother is Parent of the Year or a bit lacking, but I’d venture to say she isn’t too bad of a parent or she wouldn’t have even bothered to take her children out for the day. However, I don’t think it really matters what kind of a parent this woman is if I’m being honest. Either way, a little boy ended up in a gorilla cage and something had to be done.

I recognize that the gorilla did not do anything wrong. He did not choose to become a zoo exhibit, nor did he choose for that little boy to fall into his home. He also really might have been trying to be gentle and protect the little boy like he would his own baby. This being said, it wasn’t a baby gorilla in the cage, it was a scared little boy.

Although the gorilla probably was not trying to hurt the little boy, unfortunately, the gorilla’s intentions were not enough to ensure the safety of this boy. While the child was physically dragged around the enclosure, I’m sure he was also faced with great mental and emotional stress during these few minutes. Maybe he shouldn’t have tried to cross the barriers, but he is a little boy and little boys are curious. He was just being a child and did not deserve to lose his life for that.

I think that everyone has the right to mourn the loss of this gorilla because he was an innocent animal whose life was taken, but I do not think that it is right to say that the gorilla’s life should have been protected over the little boy’s. Just as animals protect their own kind, I think that it is our job to protect each other.

I firmly believe that this little boy’s life is far more important than the other factors involved in this. His safety should not have been jeopardized because of a mother’s parenting, a child’s curiosity, or an animal’s life. While it’s unfortunate that this happened and an innocent gorilla had to die, it was right for the zoo to protect this child above all else.