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Gorilla killed after dragging child at Cincinnati Zoo

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I disagree.
Do they not keep tranquilizer guns handy for example? Why kill it?

Better question.. How is it okay to take gorillas from their home, put them in a fucking zoo, and then kill them when the humans fuck up?

Eeehhh

Like I posted before:

You don't want those animals behind a cage.

I have a roommate with a Master's Degree in Primatology and thousands of hours of zoo experience. I showed him some of the responses in this thread and said y'all were a bunch of fools. It was not the fault of the zoo and telling them to close it down and sue the zoo is not the right idea. The parent's need to be supervising their 4 year old child.

EDIT: A few other things he told me:

"It can take an animal 15 minutes to succumb to a tranquilizer in a calm state, and an animal in an excited or agitated state may take longer. Dosages are tricky. An under-dose may not work at all, and an overdose can kill an animal (medical exams for gorillas are always a bit risky because of this, even in controlled conditions with a lot of planning). So, tranquilizing the gorilla may not have incapacitated him in a timely fashion."

"Gorillas and other highly intelligent animals are known to exhibit individual personalities. These personality traits, like humans, impact how Harambe would react to this new stimuli in his environment (a small child). You would have to ask the folks who interact with Harambe on a regular basis what his personality was like, and it is possible that his personality was a factor in the decision (I do not know).

Gorillas are not known to be overly aggressive, and in the past when a child fell into a gorilla enclosure, one of the gorillas protected the child from other gorillas while delivering it to the keeper door. Unfortunately, that did not happen in this instance.

I think we can all agree that we are glad that the child survived, it was a sad day for the staff at the Cincinnati Zoo (I send my condolences to all of those folks), and I am sure that the zoo will review their safety features to ensure a safe, educational, and fun experience for zoo goers in the future."

"I just watched a bit more of the footage, and folks report that Harambe seemed protective during that portion of the video. I wonder how the situation would have played out if the zoo visitors had not reacted (some folks say they were screaming). That may have also impacted Harambe's response to the situation."

You're also ignoring how amazing that zoo is. These gorillas are not treated like Orcas are at SeaWorld. They don't live in cages and are treated wonderfully.

I like how everyone becomes an expert on zoos as soon as a tragedy happens.
 
They deserve something alright and it sure as shit shouldn't be a settlement.
You guys are something else. Who knows what that child is going through right now, and the anguish that mother went through not knowing if her kid was going to be killed right in front of her or not. I'd say that family has been through enough, but you self righteous mofos have a better say about what these people "deserve".
 

Bad7667

Member
You guys are something else. Who knows what that child is going through right now, and the anguish that mother went through not knowing if her kid was going to be killed right in front of her or not. I'd say that family has been through enough, but you self righteous mofos have a better say about what these people "deserve".

For some reason some people have more empathy for other species than their own.
 

Lesath

Member
I think it's incredibly tragic that the child and the gorilla - the only ones blameless in all of this - are the most injured. The parents deserve blame for not watching their child. The zoo deserves blame for not making a child-proof enclosure. The crowd deserves blame for riling and terrifying the gorilla.
 
Ultimately this comes down to the parents being shitty and the Zoo not having the proper enclosure.

The kid shouldn't have been in the enclosure, he shouldn't have been harmed and the gorilla shouldn't have been killed. None of this would have happened with more attentive, competent parents and a better enclosure.

The story is a shame considering that at the end of the day, an innocent child was harmed and an innocent animal was killed because of simple incompetence on behalf of parents and the Zoo.
 

Aselith

Member
You guys are something else. Who knows what that child is going through right now, and the anguish that mother went through not knowing if her kid was going to be killed right in front of her or not. I'd say that family has been through enough, but you self righteous mofos have a better say about what these people "deserve".

And that's the zoo's fault of course. Get that money!
 

GnawtyDog

Banned
For some reason some people have more empathy for other species than their own.

People are placing empathy on what they feel is the right thing --- not picking sides based on what species we're part of. Hec even animals do the same, in their own ways - and they're way more primitive than us. A user with an avy of his dogs should be able to comprehend at least somewhat - very loyal and caring animals.
 
Maybe it's the Zoo you go to because I have been to the same Zoo as a student, educator and parent. The first two did not phase me but as a dad those flimsy enclosures freaked me out. The main one being my baby girl but she is so little every other place we go to scares the hell out of me like something is going to happen. My 4 year old was on his best behavior, the class I took was also as well behaved.

Really seems like this was an awful freak accident though.
 

mAcOdIn

Member
You guys are something else. Who knows what that child is going through right now, and the anguish that mother went through not knowing if her kid was going to be killed right in front of her or not. I'd say that family has been through enough, but you self righteous mofos have a better say about what these people "deserve".
Again, this is how fucked up the country is. The kid's medical bills should be taken care of, by all of us, through a better health care system. A person shouldn't need to sue a place to get money to cover medical bills to ensure their child gets treatment(including psychological if he needs it), or that they don't fall into financial ruin, and work places should be more understanding so taking care of an injured child, or adult, doesn't make you lose 25% of your wages or your job also possibly financially killing you. That said, the boy's been released unharmed from the hospital according to CNN so seems he's fine.

The only instance, I believe, a business or non-profit entity should be sued is for punishment due to negligence or criminal intent.

According to the zoo:
The zoo defended its safety barriers, saying this is the first time Gorilla World has experienced a breach since the exhibit opened in 1978. The exhibit is inspected regularly by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums and the United States Department of Agriculture, and adheres to safety guidelines, according to the zoo.

"The safety of our visitors and our animals is our No. 1 priority," Maynard said. "The barrier that we have in place has been effective for 38 years. Nevertheless, we will study this incident as we work toward continuous improvement for the safety of our visitors and animals."
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/29/us/cincinnati-zoo-gorilla-shot/index.html

Which I think is fair and all we can ask.

So if it's according to code, the child's unharmed and it was caused by the child circumventing the zoo's safety structures, no the family deserves and should get nothing.

Has nothing to do with being an ass, I feel for the kid because he's a kid, I feel for the mother because holy fuck that must be terrifying but I fail to see how it's the zoo's fault and so they shouldn't be liable.
 
Bad Luck Harambe

7WryBKv.jpg


The gorilla has memes image macros now.

And for people wondering why they shot the gorilla: replacing a gorilla is cheaper than a lawsuit.
 
Must have been a pretty good shot to take it down in one shot.

Sucks that it happened but 1000 times out of 1000 I'd rather see the animal put down than a kid hurt or killed by it.
 

galdevo

Member
Whether the parents are to blame or not, no other person saw a child crawling under the barrier or in the bushes?

Yeah. That's why I believe the kid did this quickly.

HAYd27b.png


If you saw a toddler, child, or even grown man on the other side of that two wire fence you would freak out and yell.
 

MIMIC

Banned
Rewatched the video. My jaw dropped when the gorilla gently stood the boy up (I guess I missed it the first time around).
 

banjo5150

Member
Sad. It was a no win situation for the Zoo. If they tranquilized him and the kid got killed, everyone would be screaming they should have shot and killed the gorilla.
 

Poona

Member
Another sad thing is that it was Harambe's birthday only the day before. They even announced it:

https://twitter.com/CincinnatiZoo/status/736255768513613824?s=09

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10154077695885479&substory_index=0&id=61800120478

Sad. It was a no win situation for the Zoo. If they tranquilized him and the kid got killed, everyone would be screaming they should have shot and killed the gorilla.

Everyone? I wouldn't. When a crocodile or shark eats someone in the water, that is the person's fault for getting in their habitat and the animal should be left to live.

Whilst gorillas aren't typically known to be any danger to humans, if the kid did manage to die somehow by going near a gorilla it's the humans fault. If your child is stupid enough to want to get in (as already reported he was telling his mum he wanted to get into the water) then properly monitor your children, or put them on a leash.
 

MIMIC

Banned
Whilst gorillas aren't typically known to be any danger to humans, if the kid did manage to die somehow by going near a gorilla it's the humans fault. If your child is stupid enough to want to get in (as already reported he was telling his mum he wanted to get into the water) then properly monitor your children, or put them on a leash.

He was FOUR. Jesus.
 
I watched the video and I gotta say, it's an iffy situation. The best response in often the worst response. In this case, an animal lost it's life due to negligence mainly on part of the mother. I don't understand this whole cage system where we have to be above the animals to observe them. In fact I don't understand the whole zoo system period.
 

ReaperXL7

Member
Between this and the guy who was mauled by lions, makes me think that zoos should HAVE BETTER RAILINGS/FENCES FOR THEIR ENCLOSURES.

I don't think it would be a bad idea to just shut down zoos in general. Create preserves for the animals where they can live in peace and shut down the side shows we put them through to stare at and then get mad when they behave like animals.
This sucks for the kid and his family, but it's sad in my opinion that we put these animals in cages to entertain us and then punish them for following their natural instincts.
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
I don't think it would be a bad idea to just shut down zoos in general. Create preserves for the animals where they can live in peace and shut down the side shows we put them through to stare at and then get mad when they behave like animals.
This sucks for the kid and his family, but it's sad in my opinion that we put these animals in cages to entertain us and then punish them for following their natural instincts.

If you do this, you cut off an enormous source of revenue that goes towards the preservation of these creatures, though.
 

Slacker

Member
Why in the fuck would they kill the poor animal? Didn't they have some sort of tranquilizers?

Why do people keep asking this? Real life tranquilizers don't work like the ones in cartoons. Causing the animal pain would make it panic and increase the danger to the child.
 
If you do this, you cut off an enormous source of revenue that goes towards the preservation of these creatures, though.

Not only that, but zoos teach children and the general public about the need for protecting these animals; it inspires them to be curious about the natural world.

Some of the folks in here act like the people who make next to nothing working in a zoo actively hate the animals and want them to suffer. They didn't make this decision out of spite or malice, they made the only decision they felt they could and they're certainly more equipped to make that decision than anyone here.
 
Animal behaviour expert says silverback gorilla Harambe was not trying to harm ‘defenceless’ child

“Usually a child is not a threat,” said Professor Kaplan, who is the author of Orang-utans in Borneo.

“The silverback would’ve understood that it was a defenceless small child. They would not normally attack, they are not an agreessive species (and) in the wild I’m certain the boy wouldn’t have been killed.”

Prof Kaplan said the leader of the troop was doing what it was supposed to do. It was “investigating”, not attacking.

“I can tell you silverbacks are protectors of their group,” she said.

“If there’s an unusual thing happening, (Harambe) needs to investigate. The fact that he went over to the child is absolutely natural behaviour but it doesn't mean he was aggressive.

“If he was going to attack he would’ve warned him first. The first thing they do is charge and beat their chests and as far as I know that didn’t happen.”

This is so sad. :(

“The death will have a vast impact on the entire troop. They’re like human families, you can’t replace Harambe with another male. There’s a sense of love and bonding and the entire troop will be destroyed.”

http://www.news.com.au/technology/s...d/news-story/94d83332fbb86df234989f66ae621d67
 
Why in the fuck would they kill the poor animal? Didn't they have some sort of tranquilizers?

Why in the fuck would Rasko not read the poor thread? Didn't he have some sort of eyeballs?

This question has been asked and answered 2-4 times per page in every page of this thread. For fucks sake, dude.
 

neorej

ERMYGERD!
The fact that there wasn't even an attempt to retrieve the kid from the enclosure saddens me. The gorilla wasn't aggressive at all. He was inquisitive, he even helped the boy up on his feet.

An endangered animal was shot and killed because mom wasn't available to do her job as a parent and the staff was not trained to read the animal's behavior. A sad day all around.
 

Auto_aim1

MeisaMcCaffrey
So sad, such a majestic animal. :( I blame the parents. Jesus christ, wth were they doing? The zoo authorities probably thought it was the right thing to do. The way it dragged the child through the water, could've snapped the spine or caused serious fractures. They don't know their own strength.

Edit: Y'all should watch the video posted below by Aske, post 647.
 
Sad situation. I do find myself blaming the zoo construction itself. No four year old should be able to crawl into any enclosure, the fact that wasn't address in any of its years of being open does not speak highly of its management. Although I do commend the quick choices made by the staff, it can't have been an easy choice to kill that gorilla but it was ultimately the right one for the safety of the child.
 

Aske

Member
I see most of you have not watched the full video.

If you had, you'd see the gorilla only stood the boy up gently and with love and affection after dragging him by the leg at great speed through shallow water full of rocks...And after standing him up the gorilla pushes the kid over and the drags him again over a greater distance. Whatever Harambe's intentions, he was rough as hell with that small child.

Warning, not safe for parents:

http://m.wlwt.com/news/full-video-boy-falls-into-gorilla-world-exhibit-at-cincinnati-zoo/39781440
 
A full grown suicidal man is one thing.

But if a 4 your old child can easily get into a it the gorrila's enclosure is dogshit.

The zoo takes most of the blame here.

But props to them taking the best option they had to retrieve the child.
 

neorej

ERMYGERD!
I see most of you have not watched the full video.

If you had, you'd see the gorilla only stood the boy up gently and with love and affection after dragging him by the leg at great speed through shallow water full of rocks...And after standing him up the gorilla pushes the kid over and the drags him again over a greater distance. Whatever Harambe's intentions, he was rough as hell with that small child.

Warning, not safe for parents:

http://m.wlwt.com/news/full-video-boy-falls-into-gorilla-world-exhibit-at-cincinnati-zoo/39781440

Okay, that sheds some more light on the matter. That shit's scary as hell, and while not an act of violence of aggression, I can see how it called for immediate intervention. Still I cannot stress enough that as a parent, your job is not to rely on other people to keep your child safe. Your job is to ensure your child is safe. Everywhere I go with my daughter, I look out for potential hazards, dangers and I make her aware as well. Yes, it takes away from my ability to fully enjoy a zoo or a themepark, but that's part of being a parent is.
 
I see most of you have not watched the full video.

If you had, you'd see the gorilla only stood the boy up gently and with love and affection after dragging him by the leg at great speed through shallow water full of rocks...And after standing him up the gorilla pushes the kid over and the drags him again over a greater distance. Whatever Harambe's intentions, he was rough as hell with that small child.

Warning, not safe for parents:

http://m.wlwt.com/news/full-video-boy-falls-into-gorilla-world-exhibit-at-cincinnati-zoo/39781440

He was just moving the child away from the screaming humans. He was being rough from the perspective of humans, yes.
 
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