New Video Reveals Gorilla Was Holding Hands With Boy Before Being Shot
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Anybody who’s been following the news will no doubt have heard about Harambe, the 17-year-old silverback gorilla who was shot dead by zookeepers after a four-year-old boy fell 15ft into his enclosure. Cincinnati Zoo stood by its decision to kill the animal and argued that the boy’s life was in danger, but a new video has emerged appearing to show the 400lb gorilla holding hands with the boy prior to being shot. What do you think?
The incident has caused widespread outrage among animal rights activists who insist that Harambe was showing no aggression towards the child. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) have criticized the zoo’s lack of a second protective barrier around Harambe’s habitat and almost 300,000 people have signed a petition to punish the parents for allowing their child to enter the enclosure in the first place. Whoever is responsible, there’s no denying that what happened was a tragedy. RIP Harambe.
UPDATE: zookeeper finally explains what Harambe was actually doing with the kid.
Harambe was shot after a four-year-old boy fell into his enclosure
Zookeepers said the boy was in danger but the video seems to show them holding hands
Was he just trying to protect the kid from the crowd? Watch the video and decide for yourself:
The incident has caused widespread outrage among animal rights activists
Cincinnati Zoo has been heavily criticized and so have the boy’s parents
RIP Harambe
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Gorilla was doing a better job of looking after the kid than the mom was
Hard to argue with that observation.
It's VERY easy to argue! Watch the full video and THEN tell me the boy wasn't nearly killed. And Mark Scott, as I mentioned, the boy was almost killed. How is that 'looking after' a kid?
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Hard to take it seriously actually
Good point
Dude that Gorilla wasn't protecting the child. What looks like him standing over the child and looking out is simple assesment of threat. Child starts screaming and crying, Gorilla figures out that the kid must be somewhat of a threat or even a part of his enclosure and litterally pushes and drags the kid. Even if he did it to protect the child, that's a 4 year old child being recklessly handled by huge WILD animal. Apes are smart but still animals. And ofc Animal Activists that value animal life more, I wish their child was in the same situation. As for parents look away for a second and kid is gone. I would never let my child roam without holding my hand, butvsaying it's absolutely their fault is ridicolous
If one was a better parent, then one wouldn't ALLOW such a tragic event to EVER HAPPEN!!! ---The child was asking to go into the water with the gorilla, the mother ignored the many times the child asked to go... and simply did nothing but say "No" to the child! She should of done more than just say "No"!!!! And now an endangered animal had to loose his life because a mom wasn't paying attention to her child!!! Shame, shame on her!!!!!
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your mom perhaps
The sad part here is that if the crowd hadn't been shouting and screaming and making so much noise, the gorilla most likely wouldn't have freaked out.
Yeah that's sad, why people have to scream like this when something happens, it never helps
I think it's just our natural reaction- although I agree that it does not help.
Why Zoo administration didn't use tranquillizer gun to make him unconscious instead of killing?
They 'say' it could cause more danger to that kid, but really? When they shot him dead he could fall at him as well.
It wasn't that he could fall on the child. Sedation would have taken at least 5 mins and possibly agitate the gorilla.
But then they could go to him immediately. If they would use tranquilliser they had to wait for the Gorilla to be knock out and the child would be in more danger.
It takes time until the tranquiliser takes effect. Though I think the whole situation is stupid and the parents should pay somehow for putting their kid in danger, I don't think there was any other way. Just google for people that were attacked by gorillas or chimpanzees and you will see they can me quite vicious. If the gorilla would've got angry even for a brief moment before the tranquilizer would've kick in that kid would've been done for.
They say the gorilla could've killed him in a second if it had wanted to, and Google Jambo or Jambo the gentle giant.
They didn´t do it, because a tranquillizer didn´t work fast enough. The boy could have come to serious harm. And please think of this. The zoo is now in the spotlight of heavy critic. It must have been a hard decision. But truth to be told... i would have done the same.
You're right! The zoo had 2 choices: to be criticized for death of child or for death of gorilla. So they made their choice. Hard choice but having only seconds for making it 99% of us would do the same.
Tranquilizer darts take at least an hour to kick in for a gorilla
Do u have answer for that? I m curious.
One of many reasons why animals should not live their life in cages. Few weeks ago a lion has been shot because an idiot wanted to die..
Why kill the lion when the lion was probably scared and protecting his home. I really doubt someone would go and do the same thing. And if someone really wants to get killed by a lion, others would surely do the same thing. We are not safer because the lion is dead.
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yeah! stupid depressed person trying to end their life - how rude!!!
What the hell? If you want to die, it's your problem. Why should an animal die because you are an idiot?
they should have shot the irresponsible parent instead. all zoos should shut down and it should just be safaris or something. somewhere where idiotic humans can't easily fall in or come in close contact with these poor animals
Your so right actually. Just because a human fell in there the poor gorilla was shot and they "saved" the child. Unbelievable.
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please, don't have kids
Faced with that situation maybe I would've made the same decision.. but think about this.. you get a creature out of his natural habitat, put him in captivity for human entertainment and then kill him because he seemed dangerous...who is dangerous? us; the human beings...
The animal of course he is wild it's the irresponsible parents that are dangerous just ignorant!!
Also, it might not purely be for entertainment reasons, as many animals are put in zoos because they can no longer live in the wild for particular reasons. For example, there is Dugong that was rescued and nursed back to health in an aquarium. They then set the dugong free, but a few months later, found it almost dead because of other dugongs attacking it. It was also very light in weight, and would not have lived if they kept putting it back in the wild
what about animals bred in captivity?
One Gorilla gets shot in a zoo => huge outrage. Gorillas get extinct because we destroy their habitat for oil and gold => hardly anyone cares. Orang Utangs become extinct because their habitat is destroyed for palm oil => not even a twitch, most people don't even know. I'm not sure what annoys me more: the hypocrisy or the idiocy of these 'outraged' people.
Unfortunately people don't realize this stuff is going on. It's the one thing I admire most zoos for, educating the masses about the atrocities in the world and to see the beauty of the animal in person. Makes it real when you look into the eyes of all animals and truly see the beauty there and hopefully get people to help however they can.
So quick to label people... So what are YOU doing to save the orangutans? Does your patronizing attitude help them? Can't someone care about both Harambe AND the gorillas in the wild? Would more animals be saved if we weren't outraged about the killing of Harambe? Get your facts straight before you jump to random conclusions.
It is so easy to judge from 'out in the ether.' Whether he was trying to protect the boy, or not, he was dragging the child through the water like a rag doll. To me, there is little question that the child was in danger. It is a horrible tragedy that the gorilla was put down, but the zoo staff had to make an immediate decision. For those of you who are shaming the mother, shame on you. Children are curious and act on their curiosity in the blink of an eye. No one can blame a parent more than they blame themselves when a horrible accident happens.
ofcourse we can blame the mother and we will! it's called responsibility, each parent is responsible for their children and if someone is not up to the task he shouldn't have kids.. easy as that!
Shame on you??? Aren't you responsible for your child's actions put reigns on your child for their safety... They ate wild animals???? Der???
How the hell did the kid fall in the enclosure in the first place?
He climbed over a 3 ft fence and fell
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physics
I've seen this video 100 times and whether or not at one point the gorilla was holding hands with the boy is completely irrelevant. He was a male gorilla dragging the boy back and forth in the enclosure. The boy sustained injuries from this alone. The Cincinnati Zoo is a first -class facility and nothing like this has ever happened before. This was just a tragic accident. Plain and simple. No one was at fault. No one should be to blame. No one made the wrong decision.
This proved it is not "first -class facility". Parents failed and are to blame. It was tragic; luckily boy survived, but I don't see that lecture is learned.
You clearly aren't a parent. And if you are, please write a book, we're all just dying for more "look at how I do everything right" books
I know that we're all sad that this beautiful animal was killed, and we want to call bullshit all over the place. But let's try to tamper the emotion of the moment and think about this logically. These are zookeepers. Their whole existence is to protect these animals. I can't imagine they made that decision lightly. And I have to accept the fact that I know virtually nothing about gorilla behavior. If the zookeepers feel the animal was a danger to the baby (which has been supported by zoological experts who viewed the same video), then I need to accept they did the right thing. As for the parent, she apparently was wrangling several children that day, and the little one slipped away. It’s happened to me (luckily in Target and not at the zoo). It’s a tragic situation, but throwing blame and hate isn’t helping.
where were those protesters when he was "just" locked up 4 life, without parole
stop anthropomorphizing
That's part of the problem.
You guys do know that the gorilla starting dragging the kid around, right?.
That hand-holding moment was between 2 instances of the gorilla dragging the child by the leg through the water like a rag doll. The mother is an incompetent boob and caused the whole scenario to transpire due to her negligence. Direct your frustration at her, not the protocols in place to keep humans safe in such an environment. The dart would have been less safe, as the tranquilizer takes time to take effect. Time is nothing to play with in this case, people.
don't procreate
I'm concerned that the child's mother will not be charged. It excuses her negligence and gives the entire ordeal an air of "Oh, these things happen," when it was entirely preventable. I'm worried that the child will be put in danger again very soon, and the next time he might not be so lucky.
Are you kidding? Do you not have children? Shit happens!
please don't procreate
It is sad that Harambe had to be shot by the zoo officials. We as who have watched the video can make many conclusions but we can never conclusively say what goes on in the mind of Harambe. As much as I would have appreciated that the zoo had used tranqullizer rather than to shoot him, I guess drastic situations need drastic action....RIP Harambe.
ANIMALS NEED TO BE FREE!!!!!!!!!!!
They do but if they are free then they can be in even worse danger, it's horrible really that we can't even trust our own specie
EVERYONE went bananas except the gorilla. Ban zoos.
Fucking humans! He had instinct to protect him. And yes of course he was a bit "brutal" he was a gorilla not a nanny!!! Blet!!!
This FB post share from a zookeeper may help put things in perspective why they didn't use any tranquilizers or other distraction methods. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1203379103029809&set=a.136952966339100.18704.100000731932790&type=3&theater It is just unfortunate that this happened and I believe no one (zookeepers and the boy's parents) wanted this. I believe that the zookeepers had considered all options before deciding to end the animal's life to save the boy. In another perspective, what happened if it's the other way round and the boy died instead? Are we to say that the parent's deserved it because they didn't look after their boy properly? Are we to blame the zookeepers for not trying to save the boy while trying to keep the life of a gorilla? No one likes to pull the trigger to end a life (ok maybe except some psychopaths), but I think that there is a lesson to be learned here; for the zoo to improved on the security and for parents to be more vigilant.
I have mixed feelings about this. Remember, it wasn't YOUR child who was in the enclosure. (Actually, I'm surprised one of his parents didn't jump into the enclosure after him.) I understand people are upset that the gorilla was shot - I'm mad, too. But then I think how I'd feel if it was MY child down there. Would I feel the same?
No one has the right to judge the mother. If it was your child, you would want the safest option for your baby. It's a tragic situation.
Would you be saying different things if it was the last known animal of its species
It wasn't the last of its species
Where were the boy's parents/guardians ? That is where the fault lies!
again a perfect mom who doesn't leave her kids from her sight at any time. Everyone know kids can be pretty quick...but he shouldn't have been possible from him to cross the fence if it was correctly done
The parent had a handful of kids which is hard to look after
what people don't understand about gorillas is that they grab onto things to intimidate people. do your research before thinking differently
Gorillas are smart. Especially if that Gorilla was raised by humans as a little baby. That gorilla didn't want to hurt the kid... he's got the strength of 15 men, so he could have accidentally hurt the child. The whole situation was just... bananas.
why dont they drug harambe? mom you responsible for all that.
Why did they have to kill him? Why not use a tranquilizer?
Until zoo have to exist should have stronger and more secure protection. I mean electric fence? Glass? Taller walls? Yes to keep any kind of human activity "surely" away from the cages! Then no excuses! If someone "gets in" someone pay for. In this particular case the guardians have taken the right decision. Situation was just like a russian roulette with a gun, now "YOU" take the stand and make your decision! Would anyone have took the risk not to shoot? I would personally have done same thing guardians did. On the other hand I hope parents get a heavy ticket! I won't be surprised if the zoo ask for damage of such a great loss... how much really cost the life of Harambe? Can really be excused, a parent from this kind of distraction? A parent said is a continuous work to keep an eye on kids; I want to ask him/her was really worth this lightness? Moral to me is both sides are responsible for what happened! That means only one thing: We, humans, did it!
Honestly this is horrible and it sucks that Harambe is dead, but lets just think about this from the zoo's perspective. The zoo could either kill a gorilla and have some animal rights people be upset for a few months and (honestly speaking) have it blow off in a few months like what happened with Cecil, OR they could do absolutely nothing and be charged for the murder of a child, have people fired, get in a deep heap of legal s*** and probably eventually have the entire zoo shut down (which would misplace much more then just one gorilla). Which of those sounds better. And they were holding hands just after the gorilla had dragged the kid underwater for a couple feet, and then about three times that distance afterwards. I'd have to side with the zoo. They choose the lesser of two evils here.
This is what is wrong with humanity we put the life of someone stupid above a magnificent beautiful endangered animal
If it was your kid you would want them to use a gun
No, I wouldn't I would want them to do the right thing. Plus what if they missed and shot the child or it didn't kill the gorilla in one
Shot and just aggravated it. A tranquilliser would've been much safer. Therefore, it would've been the right thing to do
No, a tranquilizer would have taken too long to take effect and would have greater agitated the gorilla.
They did the right decission. You can never know what animals will do. It is easy to say after it happened it was a wrong thing to do.
I dont think its right to blame the parents. What kind of parents in their right mind would calmly watch their child shaking hands with a gorilla?
ummm to me common sense would dictate you watch your 4 year child at all times while out in public. The reason why this happened was because the parents failed do so.
so you look at your kid 24h/24? never turn your eyes to something else for 10 seconds?
Sure. Its their fault for not looking after their child in the first place. What im saying is that nobody should criticize the parents for requesting that the zoo protect the kid and shoot the gorilla.
Plus I think there's too much emphasis on the fact that they held hands, and not enough that the gorilla dragged the kid here and there multiple times.
I believe it would have done the same with a baby gorilla under a stressful situation. The problem is that they are not acting like they should, living in such conditions. I'm not saying that in their natural habitat the kids would become Tarzan, but I'm not sure the male would harm it neither
If a gorilla wants to harm someone or something i doubt they would just simply choose to something around. again the gorilla was more than likely extremely confused as to what was going on and might have decided to try to drag the child away from the screaming crowd to protect the child
but yah no telling how the gorilla would react to being shot by a tranquilizer.. the sitution was just terrible all around. shooting the gorilla was probably the safest course of action.. any other action could have possibily put the child in further danger
I think the gorilla was simply reacting to the crowds reaction and misinterpreted that the crowd wanted to harm the child.. his instinct was probably to try and protect the child.
what kind of parent calmly lets their child climb or approach the enclosure so far that they fall in. The parent is very stupid
I'm pretty sure they even pushed their kid in...you don't think kids can climb this in a few seconds? There was some fault in the fence design for sure!
It's the parents fault to not look after the child and let him enter.... Their lack of responsibility caused this
Stop humanizing a gorilla. No matter how protective a gorila could seems to be, It still a gorilla. That weights hundreds of pounds, that have overpowering strength. That gorilla actually could have killed the kid just by accident. Some people say that they could have used tranquilizers. But tranquilizers are not instantáneos. To make them instantaneous you have to use mortal huge dosis and do too many shots, that could startle the animal making the situation more dangerous for the kid. The zoo's fault is not really placed on they killing the gorilla, but in not having better security measures to avoid a kid being able to fall in the enclosure and the mother for not keeping him close. After the kid fell, everybody around was shouting and screaming, which only make things worse. The gorilla was really confused because of that (normally those places are not that noisy). The zoo staff have only seconds to do something to save a human life, an innocent human life, the kid's life.
Animals don't know what holding hands is! The kid was in danger.. Live with it!
Are you people really that heartless to put an animals life over a child. Sure. It's sad that the animal died. But a child's life is better.
Watch the entire video, you ignorants.
How do you know that a Gorilla holding his hand means the same as a human? It could signal the Gorilla about to throw the boy? Not saying this was the case, but who are we to read it's intentions?
The gorilla look like he was trying to see a way to help the child back up so he was protecting the kid
They need stun guns.
Sad ;-(
Why can't they jus put him to sleep? In the zoo they should always prepare for things like this to happen!
Why can't put him to sleep?
It takes too long
So sad...
Harambee literally means "all pull together" in Swahili, and is also the official motto of Kenya and appears on its coat of arms.The railway linesmen of Indian origin carrying huge loads of iron rails and sleeper blocks would chant "har, har ambee!" (praise praise to Ambee mother) when working.
They are only showing part of the video. See the whole thing where he drags him fast and hard like a rag doll. It's sickening that people are upset. The boy is safe that is all that matters
People are upset because an endangered animal was killed, the kids life isn't all that matters humans may be smarter than other species but
That doesn't mean that other species are worse than use
Im crying my eyes out.... ;"(
does anyone know why the gorilla kept dragging the kid around?
I wonder how many children are killed by Gorillas each year. That fool Walsh is trying to justify the killing of the Gorilla by linking his death to abortions performed by humans. He is a dumb fuck!
You can't judge by just the video. Yes, he was holding the child's hand. But he also dragged the child around the moat. But what happened after the video ends is what determined whether he was a danger to the child. I heard a eyewitness account on CNN of what happened and that beautiful animal WAS threatening to the little boy.
Also, the little boy suffered a concussion from having his head slammed against the rocks while in Harambe's control. However, his mother should have been looking after the little one better. He had said he wanted to get into the enclosure and that is what he did. She should have taken him away from there when he said that.
This is a tough call! Who could have known what the outcome would have been? That poor child for whatever reason fell into the enclosure... So the parents are blamed in that instance... A preventative measure to stop that happening should be in place! Some education about a 'what if' situation arising would be good... The crowd shouting and screaming didn't help, it's human nature but a forewarning in an emergency to tell people to try and stay quiet if such a situation arises... Who knows? To me, I feel the gorilla was protecting the child and whipped him away like he would do with his own young in the same situation... They would be familiar with that but a scared child wouldn't be... No one knows for sure what the outcome would have been... So very sad that this happened, had to be a quick decision to save the child; although it may not have been necessary... Who knows in a split second decision? I blame the place for not being secure enough in the first place!
Tranquilizer didn't have time to take effect - sooo sad, they didn't have time to evaluate the situation.
May have been holding his hand h3re but what about when he was dragging the baby through water so forcefully by his leg. Sorry but he was being aggressive. Better an animal dead than the child
I am not a cry baby and I never cry. The only time I cry is when something unfair or terrible or both happens. This made me cry... :'(
Understand that in milliseconds that gorilla could have pulled that child apart. Literally A P A R T !!! PICK YOUR TRAGEDY !!!
There are millions of humans but very little silverback gorillas anymore because of humans
So sad
There are no reasons to have Zoo's, that's the main problem. Why? Poor Harambe, what a life in a cage and what a death. Pretty pretty sad....
Anyone criticising the parents or the decision to kill the animal are obviously delusional. Yes, the zookeepers should have definitely gambled on a huge animal "protecting" the child and not accidentally or deliberately killing it while everyone watches. They should have definitely waited until the child was dead. And then of course, not do anything after that because the deed was already done, no point killing or harming an animal as well.
I do not know how to say " made sleepy " im french
First , " it happened " that is already dramatic by the parents and the zoo! but then they kill it! WHY? I think this zoo has demonstrated its incompetence wide critical situation ! how is it that a child could fall ? feel it unreal and why the animal was not asleep? my first reaction is for the child, but I'm just touched by this whole nightmare !
First , " it happened " that is already dramatic by the parents and the zoo! but then they kill it! WHY? I think this zoo has demonstrated its incompetence wide critical situation ! how is it that a child could fall ? feel it unreal and why the animal was not asleep? my first reaction is for the child, but I'm just touched by this whole nightmare !
Whatta hell do you expect. We put those animals in the confine, and a kid fell into it, someone had to make a really quick decision. I feel bad for all the parties involved, imagine the person who had to pull the trigger, I bed he/she didn't enjoy it either. And fuck PETA, man, stop pretending like you are better than anybody else, your rhetoric is as bad as anybody else's, including me.
they had a split second to choose to shoot or not, its good looking at things in hindsight but really, anyone here would do the same thing to save the life of THEIR child, no one here would be like MEH let him crush my child into paste... dont act all high and mighty because you saw a video online, im glad the kid is safe and some other animals in the zoo got a good meal
its great to see thing in hindsight but at the time it was a kill or not kill situation, they had no choice but to put it down, how did they know he was protecting anyone? they didnt, this bullshit of everyone freaking out over a death of an animal that can crush that child into a small paste is fucking insane, its like those people who blame cops for shooting people because HE HAD A B B GUN. the animal is dead, get over it
That animal is endangered, because of humans
If it was my grandaughter being pulled around. I'd be so scared for her life. I'd choose my grandaughter over any animal but also human being. If a human posed a threat to another human...wouldn't we shoot them? I can't really tell by the gorillas facial expressions what hus agenda was....to make a comment that the child was fine. I wouldn't take that risk. Am I saying human life is more important than an animal's? Then NO. Would I say my grandaughter is more important to me to be kept safe, away from danger.. at all costs? Then yes! Be it threat by animal, human beast or other. To the zoo and the boys parents. ..they could not take the chance ....it was a extreme encounter for all involved. Tensions extremely high. What's the tight thing to do? Wait and see? If tranqulizer gun would have worked effectively to save the boy....that was their error. ...they shoukd have tried to save both boy snd gorilla.
It's very sad that they had to kill the gorilla but they had to act. The problem with tranquilizers is they take time to work. Especially on a gorilla this size. Think about when you get anesthesia it takes some time to kick in before your out. We will never know what was going through the mind of the gorilla but when it comes to the child's life it's more important than the gorillas
why is a child's life more important? There are tens of millions of kids, gorillas not so much
I saw newsreel of the fence - it looks like it comes up to the waist of an adult. They even showed a kid who had hopped up and was sitting on top of it with his back to the enclosure. This can't be standard in zoos, can it?
um.. so why did you edit out the first part of the video where he was dragging the kind around at lightening pace through the water, by his ankle? I'm not saying the Gorilla was aggressive of not, but this is deliberately misleading.
It is tragic and we can be seriously angry at the parents for being careless enough to have their child fall into that area. It is definitely their fault. But you can't be angry at the zoo because they had to act fast and had to save that child. You can argue many different theories, but if we had seen the child being killed by that gorilla, you'd be up in arms against the zoo anyway. I think it's kind of a stupid argument to say that the gorilla was trying to protect the child or whatever noble acts because even if he was, he was still hurting that child by dragging him around under water (btw the 4 year old most likely couldn't swim either). And they couldn't tranquilize him because it wouldn't have been fast enough. So, yeah... I am deeply sorry that a poor gorilla had to be put down like this, it breaks my heart. But we have to understand that the zookeepers knew much better than how we assume we know.
It's also worth mentioning that the gorilla was male. Their job in nature is to protect their family and they're known to be aggressive. They've also been known to kill baby gorillas that aren't part of their family. It's my understanding that when they introduce baby gorillas in captivity, they're introduced to the females long before the males for this reason. That kid didn't stand a chance and the animal handlers at the zoo did the right thing.
This is sad... but the fault lies with the parents. The zoo had to make a fast decision. A gorilla is a powerful animal. I didn´t think it tried to harm the child intentionally. But for me it is clear that the boy must have been scared.
the fault lies with the paying customers
Let us not judge about the behavior of the animal. It might look like it was holding hands with the kid, but in fact we don't know. He might saw the kid as something to play with. A full grown male silverback weighs up to 350 lb . A slide stroke or "holding hands" can cause serous injury.
I put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the parents in zoo's they have WILD animals children are parents responsibility... The zoo are damned if they do or damned if they don't... Parents need to take responsibility of their children at all times...
Bull crap...he was moving the child away from the load crazy crowd!!!!!
This is sad the gorilla didn't deserve to die. Maybe the gorilla was going to kill the boy, but this could have been stopped. The parents could have taken better care of the boy.
I just don't get why isn't it much easier to shoot a tranquilliser dart??? Why always the need of using fire arms in the slight glimpse of panic. The gorilla wasn't doing anything to the boy and he probably wouldn't have done anything, you see. He is more human than us.... Or at least his actions were. If a tranquilliser was used both would be here now not just one member of our species .
Zoo officials stated that tranquilizers work slowly and that the gorilla most likely would have become aggravated - which would have presented a greater danger to the child.
I'm concerned that the mother is not being charged. It almost excuses her actions, and gives it an air of "Oh, these things happen." I feel like the child will be put in danger again very soon, and the next time he might not be so lucky.
Absolutely disgusting! Why could they not tranquilise the gorilla. The zookeepers should be charged with murder and the child's mother charged with neglect. The gorilla was supposedly in a protected environment and had more right to be there than the kid.
A tranquilizer could take up to, or more, than 5 minutes to take effect. It would also just make the gorilla more uncomfortable and angry, ultimately putting the child at more risk.
True!
Zoos exist for a good reason. Scientific studies provide useful info that can help maintain endangered species. I remember having close contact with an orangutan at the San Diego Zoo - makes you understand what noble creatures they are... Don't be too quick to judge.
It looked to me, like Harambe was just checking the child over for injuries the way he might with one of his own youngsters.
the gorilla saw the child as a food source and dragged him around accordingly
Check Biology books asap!
Gorillas don't eat meat.
The mom was not looking after her kid, but what about the security in the zoo??!!
it's tragic... can't blame zoo keeper for shooting... It'd be too late if the animal showed aggression... parents shouldn't hold on to their kids... zoo should build a secondary net...
I think people are responding emotionally and not critically. They were not holding hands. The zoo made the correct decision. Don't like it? Don't go to zoos.
Lol - the PETA people are out today. Holding hands? It amazes me how people will bend over backwards to try and project human traits on other animals. They were cuddling!!!! The zoo made the right call.
I love animals but this child was in danger. The gorilla pulled and yanked the child through the water like a rag doll. Should the parents have been watching the child closer? Absolutely!! But the child comes before the gorilla! The parents should have had a hand on the child at lol times. He is three years old and if they cannot hold his hand while at a public place then he should be in a stroller. But yes , the zoo did the right thing in shooting the gorilla.
Child safety first, even though parents were at fault for not watching closer! No animal is worth a child's life! No one knows what might have happened! Zoo officials made a decision they thought best! Let go of the judgement! Tragic, but child is safe!
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children aren't an especially endangered species
Maybe your mother didn't think so, but they (children) are unique and yes endangered to their love ones, you are an idiot and obviously not a parent and I hope you never are one.
one big irreversible mistake
one big irreversible mistake...
dsafs
I agree with Mark Scott. The kid was in no danger at all.
What the fuck happened to TRANQUILIZERS??
Tranquilizers take too long to work and the gorilla could hurt the child before it works.
there is only sadness with this story...ALL zoos should be closed immediately :(
Could they not have used tranquilizer guns? Just a thought...
I just don't u deal why not using a tranquilliser was a better solution? Why always the need for fire arms at the slight glimpse of panic? The gorilla wasn't doing anything to the boy and probably wouldn't have done anything to him. He was more human in his actions than we were in ours. If a tranquilliser had been used both of them would still be here, not just one. After all the gorilla was better at preserving the species than us.
A tranquilizer would take 5 minutes and could agitate the gorilla which could lead to more harm to the child
Poor Kid... he was just looking for a father figure
I know this is going to sound harsh, but it's jus a gorilla. People go crazy because of the death of an animal, nearly suggesting that it would have been better to take chances on the child's life "cause it's the stupid parent's fault anyway". So what? If the child would have died they would have gotten what they deserve? That's allmost how this discussion sounds to me. I'ma an animal lover but the world has gone bonkers to me on the subject of animals. People go nuts over the death of a gorilla but find abortion just fine. Children dying in Africa, euthanasia for children in the Netherlands and Belgium? No problem. But kicking a dog, shooting a gorilla? How terrible...animals have become an obsession in the wealthy hedonistic west, that's what worries me
It's not the gorilla, it's the concept. People are willing to use guns and show acts of brutal violence when there might be another way.
The zoo keepers made the right decision! No one should ever take a chance with human life! Humans are the most important specie in this planet! I salute these zoo keepers for not taking any chance with the kid's life!
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Human lives are ALWAYS more valuable than humans'. Innocent HUMANS are dying in far more suffering than this gorilla experience in it's whole life because of global poverty. Why aren't we more concerned about them? This gorilla would have been dead within moments - as are pets that have to be put down, and animals in the meat industry. I truly love animals, and obviously it would have been better if their killings weren't necessary. But in this instance, it was.
I really hope that you didn't meant what you said right now.
LOL stupid, stupid me - obviously I meant to write Human lives are ALWAYS more valuable than ANIMALS. I really must check for typing errors more thoroughly.
Ok that's your opinion, but really, without animals we wouldn't have a proper world. We would have a world without the beauty of nature.
And btw, humans are animals
Gorilla was doing a better job of looking after the kid than the mom was
Hard to argue with that observation.
It's VERY easy to argue! Watch the full video and THEN tell me the boy wasn't nearly killed. And Mark Scott, as I mentioned, the boy was almost killed. How is that 'looking after' a kid?
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Hard to take it seriously actually
Good point
Dude that Gorilla wasn't protecting the child. What looks like him standing over the child and looking out is simple assesment of threat. Child starts screaming and crying, Gorilla figures out that the kid must be somewhat of a threat or even a part of his enclosure and litterally pushes and drags the kid. Even if he did it to protect the child, that's a 4 year old child being recklessly handled by huge WILD animal. Apes are smart but still animals. And ofc Animal Activists that value animal life more, I wish their child was in the same situation. As for parents look away for a second and kid is gone. I would never let my child roam without holding my hand, butvsaying it's absolutely their fault is ridicolous
If one was a better parent, then one wouldn't ALLOW such a tragic event to EVER HAPPEN!!! ---The child was asking to go into the water with the gorilla, the mother ignored the many times the child asked to go... and simply did nothing but say "No" to the child! She should of done more than just say "No"!!!! And now an endangered animal had to loose his life because a mom wasn't paying attention to her child!!! Shame, shame on her!!!!!
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your mom perhaps
The sad part here is that if the crowd hadn't been shouting and screaming and making so much noise, the gorilla most likely wouldn't have freaked out.
Yeah that's sad, why people have to scream like this when something happens, it never helps
I think it's just our natural reaction- although I agree that it does not help.
Why Zoo administration didn't use tranquillizer gun to make him unconscious instead of killing?
They 'say' it could cause more danger to that kid, but really? When they shot him dead he could fall at him as well.
It wasn't that he could fall on the child. Sedation would have taken at least 5 mins and possibly agitate the gorilla.
But then they could go to him immediately. If they would use tranquilliser they had to wait for the Gorilla to be knock out and the child would be in more danger.
It takes time until the tranquiliser takes effect. Though I think the whole situation is stupid and the parents should pay somehow for putting their kid in danger, I don't think there was any other way. Just google for people that were attacked by gorillas or chimpanzees and you will see they can me quite vicious. If the gorilla would've got angry even for a brief moment before the tranquilizer would've kick in that kid would've been done for.
They say the gorilla could've killed him in a second if it had wanted to, and Google Jambo or Jambo the gentle giant.
They didn´t do it, because a tranquillizer didn´t work fast enough. The boy could have come to serious harm. And please think of this. The zoo is now in the spotlight of heavy critic. It must have been a hard decision. But truth to be told... i would have done the same.
You're right! The zoo had 2 choices: to be criticized for death of child or for death of gorilla. So they made their choice. Hard choice but having only seconds for making it 99% of us would do the same.
Tranquilizer darts take at least an hour to kick in for a gorilla
Do u have answer for that? I m curious.
One of many reasons why animals should not live their life in cages. Few weeks ago a lion has been shot because an idiot wanted to die..
Why kill the lion when the lion was probably scared and protecting his home. I really doubt someone would go and do the same thing. And if someone really wants to get killed by a lion, others would surely do the same thing. We are not safer because the lion is dead.
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yeah! stupid depressed person trying to end their life - how rude!!!
What the hell? If you want to die, it's your problem. Why should an animal die because you are an idiot?
they should have shot the irresponsible parent instead. all zoos should shut down and it should just be safaris or something. somewhere where idiotic humans can't easily fall in or come in close contact with these poor animals
Your so right actually. Just because a human fell in there the poor gorilla was shot and they "saved" the child. Unbelievable.
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please, don't have kids
Faced with that situation maybe I would've made the same decision.. but think about this.. you get a creature out of his natural habitat, put him in captivity for human entertainment and then kill him because he seemed dangerous...who is dangerous? us; the human beings...
The animal of course he is wild it's the irresponsible parents that are dangerous just ignorant!!
Also, it might not purely be for entertainment reasons, as many animals are put in zoos because they can no longer live in the wild for particular reasons. For example, there is Dugong that was rescued and nursed back to health in an aquarium. They then set the dugong free, but a few months later, found it almost dead because of other dugongs attacking it. It was also very light in weight, and would not have lived if they kept putting it back in the wild
what about animals bred in captivity?
One Gorilla gets shot in a zoo => huge outrage. Gorillas get extinct because we destroy their habitat for oil and gold => hardly anyone cares. Orang Utangs become extinct because their habitat is destroyed for palm oil => not even a twitch, most people don't even know. I'm not sure what annoys me more: the hypocrisy or the idiocy of these 'outraged' people.
Unfortunately people don't realize this stuff is going on. It's the one thing I admire most zoos for, educating the masses about the atrocities in the world and to see the beauty of the animal in person. Makes it real when you look into the eyes of all animals and truly see the beauty there and hopefully get people to help however they can.
So quick to label people... So what are YOU doing to save the orangutans? Does your patronizing attitude help them? Can't someone care about both Harambe AND the gorillas in the wild? Would more animals be saved if we weren't outraged about the killing of Harambe? Get your facts straight before you jump to random conclusions.
It is so easy to judge from 'out in the ether.' Whether he was trying to protect the boy, or not, he was dragging the child through the water like a rag doll. To me, there is little question that the child was in danger. It is a horrible tragedy that the gorilla was put down, but the zoo staff had to make an immediate decision. For those of you who are shaming the mother, shame on you. Children are curious and act on their curiosity in the blink of an eye. No one can blame a parent more than they blame themselves when a horrible accident happens.
ofcourse we can blame the mother and we will! it's called responsibility, each parent is responsible for their children and if someone is not up to the task he shouldn't have kids.. easy as that!
Shame on you??? Aren't you responsible for your child's actions put reigns on your child for their safety... They ate wild animals???? Der???
How the hell did the kid fall in the enclosure in the first place?
He climbed over a 3 ft fence and fell
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physics
I've seen this video 100 times and whether or not at one point the gorilla was holding hands with the boy is completely irrelevant. He was a male gorilla dragging the boy back and forth in the enclosure. The boy sustained injuries from this alone. The Cincinnati Zoo is a first -class facility and nothing like this has ever happened before. This was just a tragic accident. Plain and simple. No one was at fault. No one should be to blame. No one made the wrong decision.
This proved it is not "first -class facility". Parents failed and are to blame. It was tragic; luckily boy survived, but I don't see that lecture is learned.
You clearly aren't a parent. And if you are, please write a book, we're all just dying for more "look at how I do everything right" books
I know that we're all sad that this beautiful animal was killed, and we want to call bullshit all over the place. But let's try to tamper the emotion of the moment and think about this logically. These are zookeepers. Their whole existence is to protect these animals. I can't imagine they made that decision lightly. And I have to accept the fact that I know virtually nothing about gorilla behavior. If the zookeepers feel the animal was a danger to the baby (which has been supported by zoological experts who viewed the same video), then I need to accept they did the right thing. As for the parent, she apparently was wrangling several children that day, and the little one slipped away. It’s happened to me (luckily in Target and not at the zoo). It’s a tragic situation, but throwing blame and hate isn’t helping.
where were those protesters when he was "just" locked up 4 life, without parole
stop anthropomorphizing
That's part of the problem.
You guys do know that the gorilla starting dragging the kid around, right?.
That hand-holding moment was between 2 instances of the gorilla dragging the child by the leg through the water like a rag doll. The mother is an incompetent boob and caused the whole scenario to transpire due to her negligence. Direct your frustration at her, not the protocols in place to keep humans safe in such an environment. The dart would have been less safe, as the tranquilizer takes time to take effect. Time is nothing to play with in this case, people.
don't procreate
I'm concerned that the child's mother will not be charged. It excuses her negligence and gives the entire ordeal an air of "Oh, these things happen," when it was entirely preventable. I'm worried that the child will be put in danger again very soon, and the next time he might not be so lucky.
Are you kidding? Do you not have children? Shit happens!
please don't procreate
It is sad that Harambe had to be shot by the zoo officials. We as who have watched the video can make many conclusions but we can never conclusively say what goes on in the mind of Harambe. As much as I would have appreciated that the zoo had used tranqullizer rather than to shoot him, I guess drastic situations need drastic action....RIP Harambe.
ANIMALS NEED TO BE FREE!!!!!!!!!!!
They do but if they are free then they can be in even worse danger, it's horrible really that we can't even trust our own specie
EVERYONE went bananas except the gorilla. Ban zoos.
Fucking humans! He had instinct to protect him. And yes of course he was a bit "brutal" he was a gorilla not a nanny!!! Blet!!!
This FB post share from a zookeeper may help put things in perspective why they didn't use any tranquilizers or other distraction methods. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1203379103029809&set=a.136952966339100.18704.100000731932790&type=3&theater It is just unfortunate that this happened and I believe no one (zookeepers and the boy's parents) wanted this. I believe that the zookeepers had considered all options before deciding to end the animal's life to save the boy. In another perspective, what happened if it's the other way round and the boy died instead? Are we to say that the parent's deserved it because they didn't look after their boy properly? Are we to blame the zookeepers for not trying to save the boy while trying to keep the life of a gorilla? No one likes to pull the trigger to end a life (ok maybe except some psychopaths), but I think that there is a lesson to be learned here; for the zoo to improved on the security and for parents to be more vigilant.
I have mixed feelings about this. Remember, it wasn't YOUR child who was in the enclosure. (Actually, I'm surprised one of his parents didn't jump into the enclosure after him.) I understand people are upset that the gorilla was shot - I'm mad, too. But then I think how I'd feel if it was MY child down there. Would I feel the same?
No one has the right to judge the mother. If it was your child, you would want the safest option for your baby. It's a tragic situation.
Would you be saying different things if it was the last known animal of its species
It wasn't the last of its species
Where were the boy's parents/guardians ? That is where the fault lies!
again a perfect mom who doesn't leave her kids from her sight at any time. Everyone know kids can be pretty quick...but he shouldn't have been possible from him to cross the fence if it was correctly done
The parent had a handful of kids which is hard to look after
what people don't understand about gorillas is that they grab onto things to intimidate people. do your research before thinking differently
Gorillas are smart. Especially if that Gorilla was raised by humans as a little baby. That gorilla didn't want to hurt the kid... he's got the strength of 15 men, so he could have accidentally hurt the child. The whole situation was just... bananas.
why dont they drug harambe? mom you responsible for all that.
Why did they have to kill him? Why not use a tranquilizer?
Until zoo have to exist should have stronger and more secure protection. I mean electric fence? Glass? Taller walls? Yes to keep any kind of human activity "surely" away from the cages! Then no excuses! If someone "gets in" someone pay for. In this particular case the guardians have taken the right decision. Situation was just like a russian roulette with a gun, now "YOU" take the stand and make your decision! Would anyone have took the risk not to shoot? I would personally have done same thing guardians did. On the other hand I hope parents get a heavy ticket! I won't be surprised if the zoo ask for damage of such a great loss... how much really cost the life of Harambe? Can really be excused, a parent from this kind of distraction? A parent said is a continuous work to keep an eye on kids; I want to ask him/her was really worth this lightness? Moral to me is both sides are responsible for what happened! That means only one thing: We, humans, did it!
Honestly this is horrible and it sucks that Harambe is dead, but lets just think about this from the zoo's perspective. The zoo could either kill a gorilla and have some animal rights people be upset for a few months and (honestly speaking) have it blow off in a few months like what happened with Cecil, OR they could do absolutely nothing and be charged for the murder of a child, have people fired, get in a deep heap of legal s*** and probably eventually have the entire zoo shut down (which would misplace much more then just one gorilla). Which of those sounds better. And they were holding hands just after the gorilla had dragged the kid underwater for a couple feet, and then about three times that distance afterwards. I'd have to side with the zoo. They choose the lesser of two evils here.
This is what is wrong with humanity we put the life of someone stupid above a magnificent beautiful endangered animal
If it was your kid you would want them to use a gun
No, I wouldn't I would want them to do the right thing. Plus what if they missed and shot the child or it didn't kill the gorilla in one
Shot and just aggravated it. A tranquilliser would've been much safer. Therefore, it would've been the right thing to do
No, a tranquilizer would have taken too long to take effect and would have greater agitated the gorilla.
They did the right decission. You can never know what animals will do. It is easy to say after it happened it was a wrong thing to do.
I dont think its right to blame the parents. What kind of parents in their right mind would calmly watch their child shaking hands with a gorilla?
ummm to me common sense would dictate you watch your 4 year child at all times while out in public. The reason why this happened was because the parents failed do so.
so you look at your kid 24h/24? never turn your eyes to something else for 10 seconds?
Sure. Its their fault for not looking after their child in the first place. What im saying is that nobody should criticize the parents for requesting that the zoo protect the kid and shoot the gorilla.
Plus I think there's too much emphasis on the fact that they held hands, and not enough that the gorilla dragged the kid here and there multiple times.
I believe it would have done the same with a baby gorilla under a stressful situation. The problem is that they are not acting like they should, living in such conditions. I'm not saying that in their natural habitat the kids would become Tarzan, but I'm not sure the male would harm it neither
If a gorilla wants to harm someone or something i doubt they would just simply choose to something around. again the gorilla was more than likely extremely confused as to what was going on and might have decided to try to drag the child away from the screaming crowd to protect the child
but yah no telling how the gorilla would react to being shot by a tranquilizer.. the sitution was just terrible all around. shooting the gorilla was probably the safest course of action.. any other action could have possibily put the child in further danger
I think the gorilla was simply reacting to the crowds reaction and misinterpreted that the crowd wanted to harm the child.. his instinct was probably to try and protect the child.
what kind of parent calmly lets their child climb or approach the enclosure so far that they fall in. The parent is very stupid
I'm pretty sure they even pushed their kid in...you don't think kids can climb this in a few seconds? There was some fault in the fence design for sure!
It's the parents fault to not look after the child and let him enter.... Their lack of responsibility caused this
Stop humanizing a gorilla. No matter how protective a gorila could seems to be, It still a gorilla. That weights hundreds of pounds, that have overpowering strength. That gorilla actually could have killed the kid just by accident. Some people say that they could have used tranquilizers. But tranquilizers are not instantáneos. To make them instantaneous you have to use mortal huge dosis and do too many shots, that could startle the animal making the situation more dangerous for the kid. The zoo's fault is not really placed on they killing the gorilla, but in not having better security measures to avoid a kid being able to fall in the enclosure and the mother for not keeping him close. After the kid fell, everybody around was shouting and screaming, which only make things worse. The gorilla was really confused because of that (normally those places are not that noisy). The zoo staff have only seconds to do something to save a human life, an innocent human life, the kid's life.
Animals don't know what holding hands is! The kid was in danger.. Live with it!
Are you people really that heartless to put an animals life over a child. Sure. It's sad that the animal died. But a child's life is better.
Watch the entire video, you ignorants.
How do you know that a Gorilla holding his hand means the same as a human? It could signal the Gorilla about to throw the boy? Not saying this was the case, but who are we to read it's intentions?
The gorilla look like he was trying to see a way to help the child back up so he was protecting the kid
They need stun guns.
Sad ;-(
Why can't they jus put him to sleep? In the zoo they should always prepare for things like this to happen!
Why can't put him to sleep?
It takes too long
So sad...
Harambee literally means "all pull together" in Swahili, and is also the official motto of Kenya and appears on its coat of arms.The railway linesmen of Indian origin carrying huge loads of iron rails and sleeper blocks would chant "har, har ambee!" (praise praise to Ambee mother) when working.
They are only showing part of the video. See the whole thing where he drags him fast and hard like a rag doll. It's sickening that people are upset. The boy is safe that is all that matters
People are upset because an endangered animal was killed, the kids life isn't all that matters humans may be smarter than other species but
That doesn't mean that other species are worse than use
Im crying my eyes out.... ;"(
does anyone know why the gorilla kept dragging the kid around?
I wonder how many children are killed by Gorillas each year. That fool Walsh is trying to justify the killing of the Gorilla by linking his death to abortions performed by humans. He is a dumb fuck!
You can't judge by just the video. Yes, he was holding the child's hand. But he also dragged the child around the moat. But what happened after the video ends is what determined whether he was a danger to the child. I heard a eyewitness account on CNN of what happened and that beautiful animal WAS threatening to the little boy.
Also, the little boy suffered a concussion from having his head slammed against the rocks while in Harambe's control. However, his mother should have been looking after the little one better. He had said he wanted to get into the enclosure and that is what he did. She should have taken him away from there when he said that.
This is a tough call! Who could have known what the outcome would have been? That poor child for whatever reason fell into the enclosure... So the parents are blamed in that instance... A preventative measure to stop that happening should be in place! Some education about a 'what if' situation arising would be good... The crowd shouting and screaming didn't help, it's human nature but a forewarning in an emergency to tell people to try and stay quiet if such a situation arises... Who knows? To me, I feel the gorilla was protecting the child and whipped him away like he would do with his own young in the same situation... They would be familiar with that but a scared child wouldn't be... No one knows for sure what the outcome would have been... So very sad that this happened, had to be a quick decision to save the child; although it may not have been necessary... Who knows in a split second decision? I blame the place for not being secure enough in the first place!
Tranquilizer didn't have time to take effect - sooo sad, they didn't have time to evaluate the situation.
May have been holding his hand h3re but what about when he was dragging the baby through water so forcefully by his leg. Sorry but he was being aggressive. Better an animal dead than the child
I am not a cry baby and I never cry. The only time I cry is when something unfair or terrible or both happens. This made me cry... :'(
Understand that in milliseconds that gorilla could have pulled that child apart. Literally A P A R T !!! PICK YOUR TRAGEDY !!!
There are millions of humans but very little silverback gorillas anymore because of humans
So sad
There are no reasons to have Zoo's, that's the main problem. Why? Poor Harambe, what a life in a cage and what a death. Pretty pretty sad....
Anyone criticising the parents or the decision to kill the animal are obviously delusional. Yes, the zookeepers should have definitely gambled on a huge animal "protecting" the child and not accidentally or deliberately killing it while everyone watches. They should have definitely waited until the child was dead. And then of course, not do anything after that because the deed was already done, no point killing or harming an animal as well.
I do not know how to say " made sleepy " im french
First , " it happened " that is already dramatic by the parents and the zoo! but then they kill it! WHY? I think this zoo has demonstrated its incompetence wide critical situation ! how is it that a child could fall ? feel it unreal and why the animal was not asleep? my first reaction is for the child, but I'm just touched by this whole nightmare !
First , " it happened " that is already dramatic by the parents and the zoo! but then they kill it! WHY? I think this zoo has demonstrated its incompetence wide critical situation ! how is it that a child could fall ? feel it unreal and why the animal was not asleep? my first reaction is for the child, but I'm just touched by this whole nightmare !
Whatta hell do you expect. We put those animals in the confine, and a kid fell into it, someone had to make a really quick decision. I feel bad for all the parties involved, imagine the person who had to pull the trigger, I bed he/she didn't enjoy it either. And fuck PETA, man, stop pretending like you are better than anybody else, your rhetoric is as bad as anybody else's, including me.
they had a split second to choose to shoot or not, its good looking at things in hindsight but really, anyone here would do the same thing to save the life of THEIR child, no one here would be like MEH let him crush my child into paste... dont act all high and mighty because you saw a video online, im glad the kid is safe and some other animals in the zoo got a good meal
its great to see thing in hindsight but at the time it was a kill or not kill situation, they had no choice but to put it down, how did they know he was protecting anyone? they didnt, this bullshit of everyone freaking out over a death of an animal that can crush that child into a small paste is fucking insane, its like those people who blame cops for shooting people because HE HAD A B B GUN. the animal is dead, get over it
That animal is endangered, because of humans
If it was my grandaughter being pulled around. I'd be so scared for her life. I'd choose my grandaughter over any animal but also human being. If a human posed a threat to another human...wouldn't we shoot them? I can't really tell by the gorillas facial expressions what hus agenda was....to make a comment that the child was fine. I wouldn't take that risk. Am I saying human life is more important than an animal's? Then NO. Would I say my grandaughter is more important to me to be kept safe, away from danger.. at all costs? Then yes! Be it threat by animal, human beast or other. To the zoo and the boys parents. ..they could not take the chance ....it was a extreme encounter for all involved. Tensions extremely high. What's the tight thing to do? Wait and see? If tranqulizer gun would have worked effectively to save the boy....that was their error. ...they shoukd have tried to save both boy snd gorilla.
It's very sad that they had to kill the gorilla but they had to act. The problem with tranquilizers is they take time to work. Especially on a gorilla this size. Think about when you get anesthesia it takes some time to kick in before your out. We will never know what was going through the mind of the gorilla but when it comes to the child's life it's more important than the gorillas
why is a child's life more important? There are tens of millions of kids, gorillas not so much
I saw newsreel of the fence - it looks like it comes up to the waist of an adult. They even showed a kid who had hopped up and was sitting on top of it with his back to the enclosure. This can't be standard in zoos, can it?
um.. so why did you edit out the first part of the video where he was dragging the kind around at lightening pace through the water, by his ankle? I'm not saying the Gorilla was aggressive of not, but this is deliberately misleading.