This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/29/gorilla-shot-killed-after-grabbing-toddler-at-ohio-zoo-cincinnati

The article has changed 9 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 7 Version 8
Gorilla shot and killed after grabbing four-year-old at Cincinnati Zoo Cincinnati zoo visitors leave flowers for gorilla fatally shot after grabbing boy
(about 5 hours later)
A special zoo response team has shot and killed a 17-year-old gorilla that grabbed and dragged a four-year-old boy who fell into the gorilla exhibit moat, the Cincinnati Zoo’s director said. Visitors are leaving flowers at a gorilla statue inside the Cincinnati zoo one day after security officers killed a gorilla that had grabbed a boy who fell into the exhibit.
Authorities said the boy, who fell 10ft to 12ft, is expected to recover after being picked up out of the moat and dragged by the gorilla for about 10 minutes. He was taken to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre with serious injuries. Panicked zoo visitors watched helplessly and shouted “Stay calm!” while one woman yelled, “Mommy loves you!” as a 400lbs gorilla loomed over a four-year-old boy who had fallen into a shallow moat at the Cincinnati zoo.
Director Thane Maynard said the zoo’s dangerous animal response team, which practices for such incidents, decided the boy was in “a life-threatening situation” and that they needed to put down the 181kg-plus male gorilla named Harambe. The boy sat still in the water, looking up at the gorilla as the animal touched the child’s hand and back. At one point, it looked as though the gorilla helped the youngster stand up.
Related: Zookeepers shoot man with tranquiliser while trying to save him from lions Two witnesses said they thought the gorilla was trying to protect the boy at first, before getting spooked by the screams of onlookers. The animal then picked the child up out of the moat and dragged him to another spot inside the exhibit, zoo officials said.
Fearing for the little boy’s life, the zoo’s dangerous-animal response team shot and killed the 17-year-old ape, named Harambe.
The child, whose name was not released, was taken to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where he was expected to recover. Hospital officials said they could not release any information on him.
Zoo director Thane Maynard said the gorilla did not appear to be attacking the child but was “an extremely strong” animal in an agitated situation. He said tranquilizing the gorilla would not have knocked it out immediately, leaving the boy in danger.
“They made a tough choice and they made the right choice because they saved that little boy’s life,” Maynard said. “It could have been very bad.”“They made a tough choice and they made the right choice because they saved that little boy’s life,” Maynard said. “It could have been very bad.”
A Cincinnati fire department incident report said the gorilla “was violently dragging and throwing the child” when they were called. Zoo officials said the four-year-old climbed through a barrier at the Gorilla World exhibit and fell 10ft to 12ft into the moat on Saturday afternoon. He was in there for about 10 minutes. Two female gorillas also were in the enclosure.
The child was in between the gorilla’s legs when the gorilla was shot, fire officials said. One witness said that just before the boy fell, she saw him in bushes beyond a fence around the exhibit.
Maynard said he hadn’t talked with the boy’s parents yet. “I tried to grab for him. I started yelling at him to come back,” Brittany Nicely, of Dayton, told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Everybody started screaming and going crazy. It happened so fast.”
He said the gorilla didn’t appear to be attacking the child, but that it was “an extremely strong” animal in an agitated situation. He said tranquilising the gorilla wouldn’t have knocked it out immediately, leaving the boy in danger. Witness Kim O’Connor shared video she and her family recorded with WLWT-TV of the boy and Harambe. The two appear in a corner of the exhibit while visitors yell, “Somebody call the zoo!” and “Mommy’s right here!”
Maynard said it was the first time the team had killed a zoo animal in such an emergency situation, and he called it “a very sad day” at the zoo. The lowland gorilla is an endangered species. The station did not air portions of the video showing the gorilla dragging the boy.
The incident was reported at around 4pm. The area around the gorilla exhibit was closed off on Saturday afternoon as zoo visitors reported hearing screaming. Zoo staff cleared the area and visitors heard gunfire a few minutes later. Firefighters then rushed into the enclosure and picked up the boy.
Harambe came to Cincinnati in 2015 from the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas. There was strong social media reaction about how the boy managed to get into the exhibit and the zoo’s decision to kill the gorilla, which came to Cincinnati in 2015 from the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas.
Hospital officials said they couldn’t release any information on the child. Authorities hadn’t released the child’s name. Lieutenant Steve Saunders, a Cincinnati police spokesman, said there are no plans to charge the parents.
Maynard said the zoo’s Gorilla World area would be open as usual on Sunday. He said the zoo believed the exhibit remains safe. They are still investigating, but zoo officials believe the boy crawled through a railing barrier, then fell into the moat. Maynard called the killing a tragic death of a critically endangered species and a huge loss for the zoo and the gorilla population worldwide.
The zoo prides itself for its work in protecting endangered species, and has been part of successful captive breeding efforts in recent years in the effort to save the endangered Sumatran rhino.