Gorilla killed at the zoo

[hawkeye3210]

I think it's the mother's fault because she obviously wasn't paying attention to her child. The only injuries were from the fall and nothing from the gorilla.The gorilla was actually treating it as it was its on child and protecting him once all the chaos started.

The gorilla dragged the boy to another part of the exhibit. That's not treating the boy as a its child, its treating the boy as prey.

Have you ever seen how animals treat their children? They most often do just pick them up and move them around. Of course it looks worse with the size difference

Yes, but you don't typically see them dragging them like that. This was also a male gorilla. As with a lot animals in nature, male gorillas aren't active in raising their young.

When people like Jack Hanna and other zookeepers/animal trainers claim that would have likely killed the boy. The decision to shoot the gorilla was made by people who work and interact with the animal. They understand its actions best. If someone who has dedicated their lives to these animals thinks shooting the gorilla was the right decision, I'm not sure why the need for second guessing.

[killers2]

I don't even agree with the concept of zoos in the first place.  I don't think a bunch of animals that shouldn't be in these environments in the first place should be oogled at all day.  It's sad IMO, not that I'm demonizing anybody who likes to go.

[hawkeye3210]

I don't even agree with the concept of zoos in the first place.  I don't think a bunch of animals that shouldn't be in these environments in the first place should be oogled at all day.  It's sad IMO, not that I'm demonizing anybody who likes to go.

A lot of these animals would be extinct without zoos.

[mrrangerrick]

It's tragic! Especially to an endangered species. The kid had actually told his mom that he was going to go "play in the water (with the gorilla)". The mom was there with multiple children and wasn't paying attention and the kid jumped in.

[Bigpar31]

Got to blame someone. Plus its the gorilla that always gets blamed.

[sfreeman8]

I was blaming the parents and the zoo yesterday from the video clip I saw. It looked like the gorilla was protecting the boy, but today they had an expanded clip showing the gorilla dragging the boy around the moat.

I still blame both in a way because they said the gate was only a baby gate 3 feet high (zoo) and the parents for not having the boy under control.  Why does the media insist on only showing a partial clip of an incident then after everyone gets upset, they come out with the true version?  So let's blame the media, too.

It's a shame they had to shoot the gorilla. A Miami zookeeper said that the gorilla was getting agitated because of all the screaming and other noises from the crowd.

[minioncookies]

I blame the parent because they should of been watching there child and they clearly were not and a poor gorilla had to die because of it

[aflyingmonkey]

I blame the zoo for failure to safeguard the Gorilla from the people.  For failure to evacuate the yelling people who were making the Gorilla nervous.  The zoo, even though they state that regulators okayed their fencing, should have boundaries where nobody can climb over.   That wasn't just the zoo's gorilla, like the mother stated in her statement, that was the entire world's gorilla & both the mother & the zoo should be held accountable.

All those parents who took their children to the zoo & their children did not climb the fences, are exactly why this parent should be held accountable... child neglect & endangerment.   Her failure to watch & supervise her child properly resulted in a fall of 15 feet into a Gorilla enclosure, how is this just an accident?   oops....    isn't going to work.    She should know her child's character & this is why they have children's leashes, for the protection of such children... I read where she had 4 kids...   perhaps she can't properly handle 4 kids, obviously in need of child protective services to come "help" her.

Hopefully the child grows up & becomes an animal advocate, or does something great with his life.

[lvstephanie]

I blame my parents. Because they weren't "helecoptoring" and watching me every second of every day, an innocent dog had to be put down. Had they been watching me as I sold chocolate bars for Little League, they would have prevented me from walking into a garage where a man was working on his car with his doberman chained beside him. Unfortunately, because my neglectful parents weren't around and because the man had his back to me and didn't notice what I was about to do, I entered the garage and the guard-trained dog sought to "protect" its master and ended up biting me, and for that they ended up putting the dog down.

Seriously, this has been taken way out of proportion. Yes, maybe the mom could have paid more attention to her children, but then again there hasn't been a parent alive that hasn't paid constant attention to a kid, and the kid ends up getting hurt. Parents are always bemoaning the fact that they turned their back for 1 second, and their little one goes running off somewhere. And yes, maybe the zoo could have built better enclosures to prevent people from accidentally entering an animal exhibit, but again they've had so many visitors prior to this without something like this happening, so it appears that the zoo had thought their enclosures were pretty impenetrable esp. for their average visitor.

It was a terrible accident. It is sad that an animal had to die in order to protect a human. But when you consider the number of people killed this weekend alone, this story pales in comparison as something important and newsworthy.

[aflyingmonkey]

It's being reported that the mom was on her cellphone for 42 minutes, from the time she entered the zoo until the screams at the Gorilla enclosure.

At what time does parental responsibility become parental responsibility.  Is monitoring facebook, instagram, etc... more important than watching your children.    What is so important on the other side of that phone that is more important than watching your children... to prevent them from climbing over a Gorilla enclosure at the zoo.   Every other parent that has gone to the zoo didn't have children falling 15 feet into a Gorilla enclosure.  It is obvious that this is not just a simple "accident"  this is parental neglect. 

[hawkeye3210]

It's being reported that the mom was on her cellphone for 42 minutes, from the time she entered the zoo until the screams at the Gorilla enclosure.

At what time does parental responsibility become parental responsibility.  Is monitoring facebook, instagram, etc... more important than watching your children.    What is so important on the other side of that phone that is more important than watching your children... to prevent them from climbing over a Gorilla enclosure at the zoo.   Every other parent that has gone to the zoo didn't have children falling 15 feet into a Gorilla enclosure.  It is obvious that this is not just a simple "accident"  this is parental neglect. 

What about the dad? One parent on a cell phone doesn't just become parental neglect.

Also, was every other child there trying to get in the gorilla enclosure? And every other parent stayed off their cell phone and didn't let their children out of their sight for one second? Come on now. I know nothing about these people, but rushing to such conclusions over one unfortunate accident is wrong.

[ghunter]

Cannot blame no one but the parent, she should have been holding that baby hand at all times, no excuse.

[adriarobi]

I did not hear all the specific details in the news today, but saw the clip.

While it is sad the gorilla had to be put down, the child is of utmost importance.

How many parents have turned their head away briefly thinking their child was right there? 

I am thankful the kid was saved. He will have nightmares for a long time I fear.

 

[linderlizzie]

I did not hear all the specific details in the news today, but saw the clip.

While it is sad the gorilla had to be put down, the child is of utmost importance.

How many parents have turned their head away briefly thinking their child was right there? 

I am thankful the kid was saved. He will have nightmares for a long time I fear.

 

I totally agree with what you said, adriarobi. It's sad there are zoos.  It's sad that sometimes parents make a mistake that ends up poorly for the child.    But obviously, you would have to put a child's safety before that of an animal. Besides, the gorilla can't get a lawyer to sue you. 

As for his nightmares, that's probably true. But I bet he doesn't wander into animal enclosures ever again.

[snuggleycutejc]

That actually happened! 100% mom too risky.