400lb Gorilla Shot Dead at Cincinnati Zoo to Save a Boy

On Saturday afternoon a 17yr old Gorilla, Harambe was shot dead by Cincinnati Zoo authority to save a four-year-old boy, who fell into the gorilla enclosure.

After the rescue operation, the boy was taken to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries.

Watch the thrilling Video here:

Video footage was posted by Amber Soler on Twitter, show chilling moments of the whole incident.

According to the Zoo authority the boy, who’s named hasn’t been revealed fell 10-12 feet and was inside the gorilla exhibit moat for more than 10 minutes.

Video footage shows that during the chaos the silverback male gorilla dragged the grabbed the child and placed him in between legs.

According to Director Thane Maynard, Harambe didn’t appear to be attacking the boy, although this kind of strong animal can’t be trusted under the agitated situation. He said that the dangerous animal response team made the right decision because the situation could have been very bad. He also explained that any other options like tranquilizing the gorilla possibly would not have knocked it out immediately, leaving the boy in the more dangerous situation.

According to the latest report released by Cincinnati Enquirer, the boy has been already released from the hospital.

Zoo officials said the extreme decision was made because the boy’s life was in danger. It was the first time an animal had to be killed in Cincinnati zoo. In a statement, the zoo authority said: “ The Gorilla World opened in 1978 and it’s the first time there has been a breach…” It has also said that after proper inspection of the incident any necessary changes will be made.

On Friday, the Zoo authority posted a photo of Harambe on facebook stating it’s his 17^th birthday.

After the incident many animal lovers has blamed the kid’s parents for not being more careful , social media was flooded with outraged towards the boy’s parents for letting the boy fall into the enclosure.

A facebook group, “Justice for Harambe “was created on Sunday. A Change.org petition has already generated more than 10,000 signatures from people who think the boy’s parent to be held responsible.

Harambe was a western lowland silverback gorilla, which is considered to be critically endangered. There are only 765 gorillas in zoos worldwide and less than 175000 in the wild.

A number of wild gorillas are continued to shrink due to excessive habitat destruction. Among other species, the western lowland gorilla population is mostly affected due to illegal poached for the bushmeat (used as human food) trade. More the 1000 gorillas are killed every year.