It seems like humans - both adult and the young - can never stay out of animals land. Be it in their natural habitat or the in zoos, stories of us encroaching their spaces - willingly or by accident - are rife. 

Hot on the heels of the case of a suicidal man who jumped into the lion's enclosure in the Chilean zoo, which led to two lions being shot came the latest story - of a 4 year old toddler and a gorilla enclosure. Harambe the gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo was fatally shot so authorities could rescue the child who had fallen into the animal's enclosure. The issue has everyone divided - some believed that drastic measures were required in order to prioritize the life of the human child, while others believed the killing of Harambe was senseless. Some claimed the animal was protecting the child while others claimed the child was in grave danger. 

An interesting comment on Facebook by former zookeeper Amanda O'Donoughue shed some hitherto un-explored light on the animal’s body language and what it actually meant. 

“I have worked with Gorillas as a zookeeper while in my twenties (before children) and they are my favorite animal (out of dozens) that I have ever worked closely with. I am gonna go ahead and list a few facts, thoughts and opinions for those of you that aren't familiar with the species itself, or how a zoo operates in emergency situations. 

Now Gorillas are considered 'gentle giants' at least when compared with their more aggressive cousins the chimpanzee, but a 400+ pound male in his prime is as strong as roughly 10 adult humans. What can you bench press? OK, now multiply that number by ten. An adult male silverback gorilla has one job, to protect his group. He does this by bluffing or intimidating anything that he feels threatened by. 

Gorillas are considered a Class 1 mammal, the most dangerous class of mammals in the animal kingdom, again, merely due to their size and strength. They are grouped in with other apes, tigers, lions, bears, etc. 

While working in an AZA accredited zoo with Apes, keepers DO NOT work in contact with them. Meaning they do NOT go in with these animals. There is always a welded mesh barrier between the animal and the humans. 

In more recent decades, zoos have begun to redesign enclosures, removing all obvious caging and attempting to create a seamless view of the animals for the visitor to enjoy watching animals in a more natural looking habitat. *this is great until little children begin falling into exhibits* which of course can happen to anyone, especially in a crowded zoo-like setting. 

I have watched this video over again, and with the silverback's postering, and tight lips, it's pretty much the stuff of any keeper's nightmares, and I have had MANY while working with them. This job is not for the complacent. Gorillas are kind, curious, and sometimes silly, but they are also very large, very strong animals. I always brought my OCD to work with me. checking and rechecking locks to make sure my animals and I remained separated before entering to clean. 

I keep hearing that the Gorilla was trying to protect the boy. I do not find this to be true. Harambe reaches for the boys hands and arms, but only to position the child better for his own displaying purposes. 

Males do very elaborate displays when highly agitated, slamming and dragging things about. Typically they would drag large branches, barrels and heavy weighted balls around to make as much noise as possible. Not in an effort to hurt anyone or anything (usually) but just to intimidate. It was clear to me that he was reacting to the screams coming from the gathering crowd. 

Harambe was most likely not going to separate himself from that child without seriously hurting him first (again due to mere size and strength, not malicious intent) Why didn't they use treats? well, they attempted to call them off exhibit (which animals hate), the females in the group came in, but Harambe did not. What better treat for a captive animal than a real live kid! 

They didn't use Tranquilizers for a few reasons, A. Harambe would've taken too long to become immobilized, and could have really injured the child in the process as the drugs used may not work quickly enough depending on the stress of the situation and the dose B. Harambe would've have drowned in the moat if immobilized in the water, and possibly fallen on the boy trapping him and drowning him as well. 

Many zoos have the protocol to call on their expertly trained dart team in the event of an animal escape or in the event that a human is trapped with a dangerous animal. They will evaluate the scene as quickly and as safely as possible, and will make the most informed decision as how they will handle the animal. 

I can't point fingers at anyone in this situation, but we need to really evaluate the safety of the animal enclosures from the visitor side. Not impeding that view is a tough one, but there should be no way that someone can find themselves inside of an animal's exhibit. 

I know one thing for sure, those keepers lost a beautiful, and I mean gorgeous silverback and friend. I feel their loss with them this week. As educators and conservators of endangered species, all we can do is shine a light on the beauty and majesty of these animals in hopes to spark a love and a need to keep them from vanishing from our planet. Child killers, they are not. It's unfortunate for the conservation of the species, and the loss of revenue a beautiful zoo such as Cinci will lose. tragedy all around." 

*me working (very carefully) with a 400+ pound silverback in 2009 

 

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We asked a few youngsters, were the authorities right to shoot Harambe? Were the parents of the child to be blamed and held accountable? Here's what they had to say. 

Sarah 

What happened to tranquilisers? If they could use those to capture the animal from the wild, I bet they could use them instead of actual bullets to save the child... parental negligence led to the death of an innocent animal. 

Pasindu 

The tragic incident occurred due to negligence of a human being. In the video, the gorilla is panicking due to crowds' noise so it's difficult to say whether Harambe is protecting or harming the child. Human life is more important than an animal's life. Cincinnati Zoo did the right thing. Although tranquilizing is an option but it takes a while to put the animal to sleep and till then there's a higher chance of Harambe to get aggressive and harm or kill the child. Anyway, because of parents' carelessness a poor elegant ape had to give away his life. 

Christene 

Did they have to shoot him dead? Couldn't they put him to sleep and get the kid out? Just a thought. 

Amreeya 

All blame on the Zoo authorities. The mother could have been more careful but things happen. Children have a way of doing crazy stuff within seconds. 

1. Most importantly, they could have used tranquilizers. 

2. Why isn't the enclosure more secure? Don't they know kids come to the zoo? Don't they know they need to take precautions and be safer than sorry? 

3. Impose certain rules for visitors so these situations won't take place. 

Katelyn 

I live in the Cincinnati area so I've been to this exhibit many times, and I do not think the Zoo was at fault in the slightest. However, I think it is wrong to attack the mother like people are doing. It's easy to say what she should have done, but have you ever been in charge of a four year old child? She turned her back for one second to care for another child and he ran into the exhibit. Another woman said she tried to stop him but he was on a mission. Nobody is perfect, this is obviously a terrible situation that could have been prevented. But I don't think it's right to attack the mother, really it could happen to anyone with a headstrong child. And the zoo responded appropriately for if they tranquillised Harambe he could have thrown the child and seriously injured or even killed him. I don't think the gorilla was trying to injure the child throughout the situation, but you cannot risk the child's life, even though putting one of these majestic beasts down in nothing short of a terrible tragedy. 

Eranga 

I'm glad to see that people are more educated about these animals than the ones that take care of them. Bet the zookeepers were like "damn get that gun boi, haven't shot something in years." 

Nadi 

People are so detached from the environment and animals they have no clue about natural behaviour. Harambe was only protecting the child when stupid people started shouting and made him distressed! People have no respect for animals' emotions and mostly, even deny that they have any! It's time people grew some conscience and thought through this entire animals in captivity thing! Live and let live! 

Dewruk 

A Sri Lankan dies every 3 ½ hours in road accidents. Unfortunately, no one is bothered to get shocked or to cry about this serious issue on their Facebook statuses. But when a gorilla was shot dead in USA (more than 15,000 km away from Sri Lanka), all the statuses on Facebook are filled about this Gorilla. Even on Sri Lankan news headlines, there are many articles against animal cruelty and even ape game Sophie akka is now talking about a 'Cincinnati Gorilla.' Irony is, ape gamé Sophie akka and most of the Gorilla lovers who shout on Facebook about Gorillas have never even seen a Gorilla in their dreams, until this happened. 

PS: no offense to all the Gorilla lovers out there. 

Burhan 

I feel the parents and the zoo authorities are both at fault. The parents should have paid more attention to their child. This is why I don't like zoos. Animals like that should not be held in captivity. It is wrong and unnatural. The poor gorilla was held against its free will and ultimately it was the one who had to pay the price. Humans are horrible. 

By Rihaab Mowlana