A dose of common sense in the Cincinnati Zoo tragedy
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Version 0 of 1. A GORILLA’S death last month at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden prompted calls for the criminal prosecution of the mother whose child fell into the animal’s enclosure. On Monday, the Hamilton County prosecutor decided not to press charges, saying, “If anyone does not believe a 3-year-old can scamper off very quickly, they’ve never had kids.” His words provided a much-needed dose of common sense. The 17-year-old western lowland gorilla — an endangered species — was fatally shot after 10 minutes with the child in its enclosure. Tears over the tragedy quickly turned to anger against the zoo staff for shooting the gorilla and against the child’s mother for letting the boy out of her sight. Online, outraged onlookers called the death a “murder” and the mother neglectful, and many urged that she be prosecuted. By all accounts, the child was in danger. The gorilla, in an apparent show of dominance against shrieking spectators, dragged the small boy through his enclosure. One hit of the child’s head against the concrete, or one stroke of the gorilla’s arm, and the boy could have died. In a split-second decision weighing a human life against an animal one, the zoo officials who shot the gorilla made the only choice they could, however heartbreaking. In fact, the case raises more questions about the general place of gorillas and other great apes in zoos — for decades, animal experts have questioned the humaneness of keeping the creatures in captivity — than it does about the specific actions of the Cincinnati Zoo staff. It should raise similarly few doubts about the mother’s guilt. When the boy tumbled into the exhibit, his mother’s back was turned, according to witnesses, just for a moment. Others at the scene described her as attentive. On video recordings of the incident, she sobs, “Mommy loves you.” These facts make a poor case for criminal negligence. More than anything, the prosecutor’s comments Monday were a reasoned recognition of the realities of child-rearing, set against the impulsive ire of those responding to a tragedy by clamoring for blood. In many cases — certainly in this one — the blood already spilled is enough. Read more on this topic: Lori Gruen: The Cincinnati Zoo’s problem wasn’t that it killed its gorilla. It’s that it’s a zoo. |