US zoo kills gorilla after kid falls into enclosure
A special zoo response team shot and killed a 17-year-old gorilla on Saturday that grabbed and dragged a four-year-old boy who fell into the gorilla exhibit moat, Cincinnati Zoo’s director said.
Authorities said the boy, who fell nearly four metres, 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. Zoo officials said he was alert when he was transported there.
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Director Thane Maynard said the zoo’s dangerous animal response team that prepares for such incidents decided the boy was in “a life-threatening situation” and that they needed to put down the more than 180kg male gorilla named Harambe.
“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.”
Authorities initially said the child was three years old, but the zoo said in a press release on Saturday night that he was four. Maynard hadn’t talked with the boy’s parents yet.
He said the gorilla didn’t appear to be attacking the child, but he said it was “an extremely strong” animal in an agitated situation. He said tranquillising the gorilla wouldn’t have knocked it out immediately, leaving the boy in danger.
He added that it was the first time that 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 incident was reported at around 4pm. The area around the gorilla exhibit was closed on Saturday afternoon as zoo visitors reported hearing screaming.
Harambe 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.
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The zoo will be open on Sunday but management said the gorilla exhibit would be closed until further notice. Maynard 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.
The zoo prides itself for the work it says it does in protecting endangered species, including successful captive breeding in recent years in the effort to save the Sumatran rhino.