So if you haven't heard about the little boy falling into the gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo, where have you been?
I understand why people are supporting killing the gorilla, but I believe that it was the completely wrong decision. The only good comeback people have had supporting the killing in the various Facebook comments I read is "what would you do if that was your child?" Well, first of all, if my child told me repeatedly that they wanted to jump into a gorilla exhibit, I would tell them "No" and we would move away from it. I wouldn't let them roam free to do what they pleased. Little kids don't understand consequences of their actions—so how is a 4-year-old child going to know that it's wrong to jump inside the enclosure?
Movies like the new "Jungle Book" show little kids that being in a jungle playing with wild animals can be fun. Kids don't understand that these animals are big and very aggressive. They see them as they are portrayed in the movies. In this case, this child's situation would have been a lot better if his parents were watching him—as they should have been. The barrier has been in place and worked for decades, so that's not to be blamed. They were negligent.
I understand that people are heated on both sides of this argument, and this is simply my opinion. It was negligent of them to allow their children out of their sight after the child said he was going to go into the exhibit. I think that it was irresponsible of the parents to ignore the fact that children will be children. They will do as they please when they're not taught otherwise.
In no way was Harambe trying to kill that child. If he wanted to kill, he would've done so the second the child fell 15 feet into HIS home. When all the people were screaming at him, he did what gorillas know to do: he took care of their young and picked him up. The kid couldn't run nearly as fast as the gorilla could move, therefore, he was dragged through the water.
There are plenty of excuses as to why they didn't tranquilize Harambe. The first is that they feared he would have become aggressive or he would've fallen onto the little boy. My problem with the entire situation isn't that the gorilla could've killed the boy. My problem is that the parents should have been keeping a far more watchful eye on their 4-year-old child in a zoo full of wild animals, strangers and other potential dangers. In no circumstance will there ever be any excuse as to why your child fell 15 feet into a moat where three gorillas lived.
Rest in peace, Harambe. Hopefully, the species still has a chance for survival after this happened, especially since it could have been easily prevented if the parents were watching their child.
