![]() ![]() If he were free, his home would be like the slopes of the Virunga volcanoes where clouds meet the treetops. “We know that this was a very difficult decision for them, and that they are grieving the loss of their gorilla.His name was Harambe, which means, “lets pull together” in one of the native languages of his home in East Africa. He was a silverback gorilla and is reported to be a Western Lowland Gorilla. “We extend our heartfelt thanks for the quick action by the Cincinnati Zoo staff,” the statement said. It was basically the child or the gorilla, and they chose.”Ī statement released by the boy’s family, which did not reveal any of their names, announced he “was doing just fine” after his release from hospital and also expressed gratitude toward the zoo authorities. “You could look into their eyes and tell they had tough decisions to make. “From what we saw could have been killed at any second,” said eyewitness Bruce Davis. “Accidents happen but I am thankful that the right people were in the right place today.”īystanders who witnessed the incident told CNN that the drastic step of killing the gorilla seemed necessary under the circumstances in order to save the toddler. “As a society we are quick to judge how a parent could take their eyes off of their child and if anyone knows me I keep a tight watch on my kids,” Gregg said in the post. “The risk was due to the power of that animal.”Īnimal behaviorists have corroborated Maynard’s argument, with wildlife expert Jack Hanna telling ABC’s Good Morning America that there was “no doubt” in his mind that “that child would not be here today if they hadn’t made that decision … a dart takes too long.”Ī woman named Michelle Gregg, purportedly the boy’s mother, published a Facebook post about the incident that has since been deleted. “When you dart an animal, anesthetic doesn’t work in one second, it works over a period of a few minutes to 10 minutes,” he said. Thane Maynard, the executive director of the Cincinnati Zoo, justified the decision of his emergency response team in a press conference Monday, explaining that the primary concern was for the 4-year-old boy’s life. “The gorilla enclosure should have been surrounded by a secondary barrier between the humans and the animals to prevent exactly this type of incident.” “Yet again, captivity has taken an animal’s life,” the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said in a statement. Visitors have also been leaving cards and flowers next to a statue outside the zoo’s Gorilla World exhibit, which has been temporarily closed after the incident. Several celebrities also voiced their opinions about the incident on social media.ĭozens gathered at a vigil Monday afternoon to mourn Harambe, although it was made clear that the vigil was not a protest against the zoo. silverback or dominant male, would father more gorillas.Īnimal-rights activists have been up in arms, blaming the parents of the boy for not watching him closely enough as well as the zoo for not having adequate safety measures and shooting the gorilla dead rather than tranquilizing him. Their population in the wild is estimated to be less than 175,000, according to the Cincinnati Zoo, with 765 more reportedly residing in zoos across the globe. Western-lowland gorillas are a critically endangered species, with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reporting that their numbers have reduced by 60% over the past 20 to 25 years. ![]()
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