Dead gorilla ? Or dead child ?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/killing-gorilla-save-boy-ohio-zoo-sparks-outrage-175543989.html

I think some of these people would rather have heard about a mauled or dead boy instead of a dead gorilla.

Yes, its tragic to have to kill one of these wonders of Gods creation, but human life should always take priority over animals.

"More than 2,000 people signed a petition on Change.org that sharply criticized the Cincinnati Police Department and the zoo for putting down the animal and called for the child's parents to be "held accountable for their actions of not supervising their child."

....yes...the worlds insane.

People can be incredibly stupid.
I would like to see the reaction of all those lamenting the death of the gorilla if it had been their child in the enclosure with it.

What I don't understand from what I have read so far is how this kid managed to get in the enclosure to begin with. Usually zoos are designed to keep people out of where the animals are.

I do agree that the parents should have kept their child under control and they should be held to some degree accountable..We weren't there so we dont really know if the Gorilla was being hostile or not..why not use a tranquiler? Sometimes gorillas are not hostile towards humans and sometimes they are..that can be said about any animal..The video I saw didn't look like the gorilla was being hostile..I would need to see a better video however..

"Western lowland gorillas are gentle animals. They don't attack unless they're provoked."
Indeed. But what provokes them? Their body language is far different from humans.
This whole thing is insane. The kid got to the gorilla by accident (in that the parents didn't want is, I guess), and I wouldn't take any risk either with that ape.

And it's a very clear signal to me that the people working at the zoo considered it a necessary decision. If anyone's qualified in making these decisions, then it's zoo employees. They tend to love animals, you know.

But I am wondering about why the parents didn't stop their four year old son from entering the enclosure.

Savage Amusement wrote:I do agree that the parents should have kept their child under control and they should be held to some degree accountable..We weren't there so we dont really know if the Gorilla was being hostile or not..why not use a tranquiler? Sometimes gorillas are not hostile towards humans and sometimes they are..that can be said about any animal..The video I saw didn't look like the gorilla was being hostile..I would need to see a better video however..

I was reading an article last night and don't remember where.  One of the vets at the zoo said that a tranquilizer would have taken about 15 minutes to work.  They were unsure what the gorilla would do with the child and chose to put it down quick rather than risk any harm to the kid.

Seeing that they know these animals so much better than we do as they spend time with them daily, that's good enough for me.

I don't get the anger at putting down the ape.  Killing animals unnecessarily isn't a good thing.  What I really don't get is why people aren't celebrating that the child is okay.  I would think that we'd be more apt to celebrate the safety of that kid.

Yeah, there are a lot of questions about this tragedy and at least as many judgmental points of view.  I'm not into assigning blame in cases like this where I don't truly know what happened.  Of course, everyone's favorite drummer has a strong opinion on it.

messiaen77 wrote:Yeah, there are a lot of questions about this tragedy and at least as many judgmental points of view.  I'm not into assigning blame in cases like this where I don't truly know what happened.  Of course, everyone's favorite drummer has a strong opinion on it.

Who? Mark Portnoy?

alldatndensum wrote:

Savage Amusement wrote:I do agree that the parents should have kept their child under control and they should be held to some degree accountable..We weren't there so we dont really know if the Gorilla was being hostile or not..why not use a tranquiler? Sometimes gorillas are not hostile towards humans and sometimes they are..that can be said about any animal..The video I saw didn't look like the gorilla was being hostile..I would need to see a better video however..

I was reading an article last night and don't remember where.  One of the vets at the zoo said that a tranquilizer would have taken about 15 minutes to work.  They were unsure what the gorilla would do with the child and chose to put it down quick rather than risk any harm to the kid.

Seeing that they know these animals so much better than we do as they spend time with them daily, that's good enough for me.

I don't get the anger at putting down the ape.  Killing animals unnecessarily isn't a good thing.  What I really don't get is why people aren't celebrating that the child is okay.  I would think that we'd be more apt to celebrate the safety of that kid.

I think this hits on several issues.  
1)  People aren't convinced it was necessary to put the animal down.
2)  People are convinced they know more about everything than the people who are trained and experienced in a field.  It is super easy to second-guess and hindsight is 20/20.  The same thing with all the police shootings--you can say it should have been handled differently and that you would handle it differently, but until you are actually in that situation, you truly don't know.
3)  Connected to 2, there is a general distrust of authority and an assumption those in positions of power are going to abuse it.
4)  As for why there is not more joy at the child's safety, I think it goes back to the tendency to blame the parents for the whole situation and a lack of sympathy for them resulting in an unspoken feeling that they were in the wrong, so if the child had died, it would have served them right.  People blame them for the killing of the animal, which would have been avoided if they had just been good, responsible parents and controlled their child.
5)  We've been conditioned by the news to react to the negatives and overlook the positives.  It is always "Three people killed as a bus is hit by a train" and never "Twenty-five survive as a bus is hit by a train."

To be honest, I am more concerned with this kind of abuse of animals and what it means for our society:

Teen Girls Charged With Throwing A Bunny!!!

sentient 6 wrote:I think some of these people would rather have heard about a mauled or dead boy instead of a dead gorilla.

That's about it.

I think it's natural to wonder where the parents were and what they were doing when the boy ended up in the gorilla enclosure to begin with. Once that happened though, it comes down to worldviews. To me, saving the child's life at the expense of the animal's if necessary was a no-brainer. I think human life is special because we're created in the image of God while the animals are not. Unfortunately, many people in our increasingly godless society don't see it that way anymore. They seem to think that it's a grave injustice that the gorilla paid for the perceived stupidity of the parents, thus the controversy.

As for why the killing was necessary, there's a couple of factors. First of all, the gorilla could have seriously hurt or even killed the child without even meaning to. During one of my visits to a zoo as a kid, I remember my dad once asking the gorilla keeper if they were able to play with the gorillas like you'll see with some other kinds of animals. He explained that such a thing wasn't possible because gorillas are so powerful that they could rip your limbs off in an attempt to be playful. I'm sure that factored into the decision even though the animal wasn't being overtly aggressive.

Second, the officials in this incident have already explained why they couldn't use a tranquilizer as Alldat alluded to. Real life tranquilizers don't work instantly like they do in the movies. They take time, and the animal after gets very agitated after being hit with it. That obviously could have gone poorly for the child in this case.

Obviously, it would have been ideal to find a solution that didn't involve killing a rare creature. Given what we know of the circumstances, I reiterate that I believe the zoo officials did the right thing though.

Just wait until the gorilla lives matters folk arrive.

Dear Footlocker of Ohio. I want to suggest that you begin boarding up your storefront.

While I understand the "where were the parents" line of thought, realistically, it's gonna take a 3 second distraction for something like this to happen.  Small kids are FAST and more capable of things than folks want to give them credit for.

MY thought process runs more toward "why on EARTH are these animals bein keep in a pit style enclosure where falling in is even possible?  They're not dumb, they realize they're confined in an enclosure.  They know they are being observed   They know that none of this is "natural" to them.  Higher rock like walls with observation windows in them instead of waist high fencing and shrubbery are not going to be any less "natural" to the creatures, and would have completely prevented the issue even being possible.....

I find that nature lovers would rather save an animal than a human.  I don't car how endangered an animal is - humans comes first. I don't cosider 175000 of that type of gorilla endangered. i'm not surprised when the fetuses of animals are protected but not humans from abortion. 

Another thing - people have to stop blaming the parents every time a kid wanders off. Kids will be kids and it only takes a secone for them to disappear. I'm a parent and I kow this from experience. They would rather blame the parents but they won't advcate for  better enclosures. I think the zoo should be held accountable for having a gap in the barrier for along the kid to get in, not the parents.

alldatndensum wrote:To be honest, I am more concerned with this kind of abuse of animals and what it means for our society:

Teen Girls Charged With Throwing A Bunny!!!

Yes, blatant disregard for life is one of the plagues our society faces today.

It's a shady situation. I would never blame parents for this kind of thing because it is just as traumatizing for a parent to see their own child in danger. The gorilla was not doing anything wrong either. The gorilla was just being a gorilla for crying out loud. This was an accident that could and should have been avoided but, we are human. We aren't godly beings who are perfect, we will always slip and fall. What is important is that the kid is alive. The gorilla didn't deserve to be in that cage in the first place. It's an ugly situation. You have 2 innocent lives on the line and one has to be taken down due to priorities.

Staybrite wrote:People can be incredibly stupid.
I would like to see the reaction of all those lamenting the death of the gorilla if it had been their child in the enclosure with it.

Sure, about the last planes crash, some people lamenting about pollution for the sea (Egyptair) and mountain (Germanwings). Ecology is important but some people are stupid with that.

Of course it's sad for this lions and gorilla, and if they get to sleep then it coud be better. I don't know all part of this stories, so i prefer waiting to give an opinion...

Ape looks like it could bench press 2500 lbs.

I watched the video yesterday finally and while the gorilla probably was trying to protect the child it was handling it like another gorilla. Another gorilla can probably stand up to that rough handling but a 3 year old cant. When I watched the video I almost teared up thinking of if this was my child, seeing the child jerked and dragged underwater he could have drown.

Shooting the animal with a tranquilizer would have angered him and probably caused more danger for the child. Personally if it were my child I wouldn't care if it was the last unicorn, if my child was in danger I'd still shoot it.

The family is being investigated by the police and the zoo by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums..


"The incident at the Cincinnati Zoo involving the young child who fell into the gorilla enclosure is under investigation by the Cincinnati Police Department," Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph T. Deters said in a statement Tuesday. "Once their investigation is concluded, they will confer with our office on possible criminal charges. When the investigation and review are complete, we will update the media."
In a later statement, the police department said that its review "is only regarding the actions of the parents-family that led up to the incident and not related to the operation or safety of the Cincinnati Zoo."
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums said it will also conduct a probe into the shooting death of Harambe. The AZA will request a report from the zoo, which will be reviewed by the accreditation commission, spokesman Rob Vernon said."

We all need to wait for the report...

I think that in this case that the statement about the ongoing investigation is just throwing a bone to the public outcry.  The authorities probably feel that this was a random incident that could have happened in a moment without there being any real negligence on the part of the parents or the zoo.  I think this will be quietly swept under the rug.  Just the fact that there has been no arrest of the parents or the child going into protective custoday is evidence that the cops don't think that the parents really did anything wrong.  The family has thanked the zoo and not hired a lawyer thus showing that they feel nothing was done incorrectly.  So, I think this will be swept quietly under the rug when the public settles down a bit.

Soldier777 wrote:I find that nature lovers would rather save an animal than a human.  I don't car how endangered an animal is - humans comes first.

In this case shooting the gorilla was the only right choice.

But as a nature lover, I find this Soldier777´s statement little bothering. The beauty of this God´s creation is that it is matched to work together. Every species on this planet are having their own place and purpose.

So we should care how endangered some animals are. Destroying other life carelessly we end up destroyin ourselfs. Because we are actually depending on some species on this earth.

Theologically I think that was God´s purpose. He has given a direct order to take care of this world. We have forgotten that this world is actually His world, not ours, it is His world.

What blows my mind is something as minor as a ape dying sets the media ablaze and yet, here we are killing our own, as I type this out.

Anyway thats my 2 cents, take it or leave it

Hardcore Christian wrote:What blows my mind is something as minor as a ape dying sets the media ablaze and yet, here we are killing our own, as I type this out.

Anyway thats my 2 cents, take it or leave it

We've been slaughtering children in the womb nationwide since I was a baby. We treat our own kin as parasites and lions and gorillas as gods.