At the Cincinnati Zoo last weekend, a young boy fell into a gorilla enclosure. The boy was then dragged by the 450 pound Harambe, a Western Lowland Gorilla. Spectators of the incident viewed the situation and recorded it, posting it all over the internet for the world to see. The zoo decided to shoot and kill the gorilla instead of sedate it. As a result, critics and those in favor of the zoo’s decision were in uproar over the complication, fighting for the animal’s rights and for the boy’s rights. Is a human life more important than an endangered animal’s life?
In many videos throughout the internet, the boy was pictured being dragged through a water filled moat by the gorilla. Spectators were yelling and crying for help while the family was not to be found. Some say the boy slipped away from the mother without her knowledge, and that she was standing near by. However, many critics put the family at fault for not watching the child before he fell.
Throughout the video, there is no telling what the animal might have done to the boy if it was not stopped immediately. Gorillas are dangerous animals, and could have potentially killed the young boy. Animal activists are up in arms about the matter, deciding whether it was right to shoot the gorilla or not. Some say the gorilla was protecting the boy.
Others who were deciding what to do in terms of getting the boy to safety made the decision to shoot the gorilla instead of sedate it, because it was the quickest way. If the gorilla was sedated, it may have been angered or freaked out before falling asleep, and might have harmed the boy instead.
Parents weigh in on the situation and question where the mother was at the time the boy fell in to the enclosure. CNN states that the mother at first did not know her son was in the enclosure and found out through seeing him already in the arms of Harambe. CNN also states that the boy was not harmed after the situation.
Cincinnati police are deciding whether or not to charge the family, though authorities say the boy slipped away from the mother at the time of the incident. Critics are joining together to put the word out about Harambe’s death, especially through social media and on the internet against the boy’s mother after zoo officials killed the gorilla.
Some suggest the parents should be held responsible criminally, and through prosecuting the family. Spectators who saw the incident said the boy told his mother he was going to get in the enclosure, but the mother told him to straighten out and was distracted with other things before he fell inside.
Overall, there has been various investigations about the incident on the part of the Cincinnati zoo and about the family who was involved. The zoo had not been mistreating the animals at all throughout the years, and many are saying the act the zoo had taken to rescue the boy was out of the ordinary. Thankfully, the boy was rescued safely, yet sadly, an endangered gorilla was lost.
