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A boy fell into a gorilla enclosure. Do you agree with the zoo's decision to shoot and kill the gorilla? (Page 2)
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I can't understand why they didn't use a tranquilizer... seriously why..
But on the other hand the boy could be in real danger and I am assuming tranquilizer takes time to work.. they're endangered yes.. but that baby's life was a priority of course.. even tho he has dumb asses as parents who couldn't take care of him in the first place.. and let him fall there..
Tranquilizer takes time to set in. The animal is often extremely agitated once the dart hits an sometimes is able to take it out or it just falls out. With that then you have a even more agitated animal.
@Courtney90 yeah that's what I thought 😕
I think they should have shot him with a tranquilizer. But then again im not entirely sure how long it takes the tranquilizer to kick in so that could make a difference - if it's not immediate then maybe the boy could've been in more danger. Maybe they shouldve shot the parents for not watching their kid! Kidding but seriously what's wrong with people? Bring your kid to the zoo watch your damn kid!
It was a sad event but there was no other option. That gorilla is strong enough to crush a coconut with one hand. A tranq would make the ape very agitated before actually being knocked out. That said, I do believe the parents should be fined for not preventing the child from getting so close.
the mother should definitely be more than fined. the kid had to climb over and through a lot to actually get through to the gorilla in the first place.
@thewanderingme what's "more than fined"? Put her on trial?
I don't know, not necessarily as much as being put on trial, but if a parent leaves their kid unattended in a hot car or a store and something happens to the child they don't normally just let it go. I'm pretty sure they usually take the kids away at least.. really what should happen is that neglectful parents should be forced into some sort of special parenting classes (sort of like anger management ).
@thewanderingme if you heard the whole story, the kid was taunting his mother. "I'm gonna get closer" "no you're not" "yes I am"
"NO you're not"...
wow, no I hadn't read that bit.. I did read somewhere she went with 3 other kids as well though. I don't think it's ever a good idea to take that many kids somewhere without any help
... also, regardless of bad parenting, the zoo should have had a better enclosure. the boy should never have been able to get in in the first place. I always thought they were required to have 2 barriers, not just 1. they should definitely be fined as well.
obviously they made the right call. People have too big of a fetish for animals these days, probably due to the fact that we've become so anti-social... pets have become a lot of peoples new best friend. I would've shot that gorilla without thinking twice. Doesn't mean the zoo isn't liable at all for making better enclosures, or the parents for not watching their kid... but at the end of the day human life > non human life. Pretty sure most people would want to kill it if it were their kid/loved one in there.
i mean killing the gorilla was horrible. he was the only living thing completely innocent in this scenario. however workers had said how they had witnessed the gorilla crack a coconut by just squeezing it with his bare hands. there wasn't really a way out of it
tranquilizers couldnt have been used because sometimes they react crazy to it and he could have hurt the little boy.
it was a difficult decision to make, but it was the right one
Hindsight is always 20/20. Everyone has an opinion on what should've been done after that fact but at the time, and decision had to made quickly and killing the gorilla was determined to be the most rational decision and I agree. Criticize me all you want but I will never but an animal's like above a human's. And for those who say human's are animals too, there's more human's alive than that species of gorilla, blah blah blah, do me a favor blow it out your ass
yeah, it really bothers me sometimes that some people see the animal's life as more important than the human's; especially in this case where the boy is defenceless and isn't meant to cause harm to the gorilla
but then again, ethics is such a grey area.
@123cheesecake if there was a chance the the kid could've been DK smashed then something had to be done. I'm sure the zoo didn't make the decision lightly but I stand by their decision
Tranquilizers aren't immediate do if you shoot the gorilla with it what happens until he falls asleep? I'm definitely no gorilla expert, but I think if you shot it with a tranquilizer there's a good chance it would of reacted to it, violently. And, anyone who thinks an animal's life, no matter how endangered, is worth more than a 4 year old human's life, let me repeat that, human's life, is a nut job. They should probably also kill themselves so they stop using resources and land that animals could be using, remember they're dying.
Whats up with the female votrs here?
Is a boys life that worthless?
Yes its not nice to have to kill a gorilla, but in that situation, but its a split second decision,
And they made the right choice.
Human life > animal life.
i don't know enough about risks associated with that situation, and how likely the gorilla is to act in dangerous ways, so I'm going to have to trust the zookeepers decision here.
He knows a lot more about groillas than the general public, and I doubt he WANTED to kill it, so the fact that he did makes it seem like there wasn't really another option
It was the zoo's only option more or less. They avoided a lawsuit with that, and saved the boy. A tranqulizier would not have worked immediately and often tranquilizers cause animals to become aggressive or unaware of their body, hence more dangerous for the boy. NO the gorilla does not like children, he acts on instincts, if there is something he doesn't know in his territory he will surely not care for it or worse.
The way I see it I don't care how endangered the animal is, if my baby's life is on the line, you better end that situation! Yes there might have been other options but the boy was being dragged by the gorilla, he could have died
This is why these animals don't need to be in zoo's. Keep them in their natural habitat and you won't have to worry about things like this. This is on the neglectful ass parents. How your kid was able to get away from you long enough climb and then fall into a gorilla exhibit is beyond me. I do not take eyes or hands off any child that is with me.
"This is why these animals don't need to be in zoo's. Keep them in their natural habitat and you won't have to worry about things like this" exactly and that's another thing I meant to write in my OP LOL
It's not so cut and dry as that. Animals like that are going to go extinct in their natural habitat thanks to deforestation and farming. You might as well just shoot all of them in that case. Conservation zoos help to prevent extinction.
@VicarioVivere those animals are miserable. I worked at a zoo and it's sad. Also sad is how many code reds we had for missing children.
Was your zoo a conservation zoo, or just a commercial zoo?
@VicarioVivere I'm not sure, it's the Philadelphia Zoo.
That isn't a realistic option. They will be hunted in their natural habitat. The more rare they are, the more valuable they are to poachers. Likewise a lot of animals are running out of habitat.
I see it this way... if that boy was my brother, i would want em to kill the gorilla, my brother would be insane and need help, i dont want him to die, he has to live the life God gave him, and i would try to make that happen, i would try my best to make him happy, because he's worthy. That boy is worth it.
I want to know what the parents were doing. The parents are dumbasses and should have charges. It's too bad the gorilla had to though I would hope other zoos have better options and better protocols than this if it ever happens again.
First of all Gorilla's don't belong in the ZOO, no animal belong in a cage ! So if a stupid human says " HEY! let's make a Zoo" it's Your responsibility for what goes on there but it NOT gives You the right to kill another creature because something in a "human" zoo went wrong.
I hate our race ! -_-"
It's sad of course, but it was an emergency.
They probably only had a gun with bullets available when it was time to intervene.
The problem is you don't know wether the gorilla will treat the kid in a friendly way or not and for such a strong animal it takes one move to kill him :o
If only these things would never happen :o :-(
What the heck? Why did the kid even put himself like dat in the first place?
First off gorillas are such Beautiful Creatures and endangered!. And second didn't even look like the gorilla was doing any harm to him. Tranquilizing him would of been better. Either way would of passed out or whatever. But kill? Wow. And they don't easily do that to a real criminal :p. Oh life.
I can't really say either one. The kid shouldn't have gotten into the exhibit. If the parent or guardian saw that he was climbing over the gates and stuff, they should've stopped him. I think it was the parents fault for letting the kid climb through the bars.
They could have easily tranquilized him, plus it wasn't the gorilla's fault for the kid to enter the cage, where were the parents when the kid was doing this? huh?
If you shoot a gorilla, it will die in a few seconds.
If you tranquilize it, it will take a minute and it will probably be even more agressive, definitely killing the child.
Real life isn't jurassic park where you pop a dart in its neck and it drops down a second later...
They made a right call.
Thats a 4 year old child, it's life barely started and it shouldn't die just because the parents were careless...