The shooting of an endangered lowland gorilla in Cincinnati Zoo to save a child that had fallen into the animal’s enclosure on Saturday has evoked major reactions on Twitter. A debate as to who should shoulder responsibility for the child’s safety has also risen, wherein people are questioning the grounds on which an animal was shot, inside a zoo.
WATCH: 4yo boy falls into #Cincinnati Zoo #gorilla enclosure. READ MORE: https://t.co/yUXMMYMOLp #TenNewshttps://t.co/vrrZ3MkYir
— TEN News Sydney (@TenNewsSydney) May 29, 2016
Zoo director Thane Maynard told Fox News that shooting down the animal was the only way to save the child, who had already been in the enclosure for 10 minutes with the gorilla. Tranquilizing the animal would also have taken a longer time. Opinions remain divided as to whether the gorilla was dragging the child around to protect him, play with him or just out of agitation.
“They made a tough choice and they made the right choice because they saved that little boy’s life,” Maynard said. “It could have been very bad.”
But Twitterati was not ready to buy the zoo’s explanation, making their opinion quite clear through these tweets:
Dear #Cincinnati (and every other city in every country in the world for that matter), you don’t deserve a #Zoo.
— Chris Adler (@ChrisAdlerMusic) May 30, 2016
The #cincinnatizoo euthanized a gorilla today because some 3yr old child’s parents weren’t paying attention to him. Way to go #cincinnati
— Nathan Poe (@youknowPoe) May 28, 2016
RIP Hero #Harambe! #AnimalLivesMatters #cincinnati #zoo #gorilla #SavetheAnimals#irresponsibleparents #murder pic.twitter.com/7EpmQwW4c2
— Joyce Castro (@_joycecastro_) May 30, 2016
Social services should be after the parents of the kid they let fall into the paddock. The zoo should be suing them too #Gorilla #Cincinnati
— James Ferguson (@LucioFulciFan) May 30, 2016
@jonobasile and next time how about a fence that keeps little ones out @CincinnatiZoo #Cincinnati #gorilla
— Mad in NZ (@madinnz) May 30, 2016
Basically an endangered gorilla was shot while trying to protect a boy who fell into his exhibit.. Good job incompetent mother #Cincinnati
— Anthony Cardile (@anthony_cardile) May 30, 2016
Zoos for profit aren’t “educational,” they are prisons of precious, innocent creatures that should be wild. So sad. ☹️💔 #gorilla #Cincinnati
— Kristi Ling (@kristiling) May 29, 2016
As a conservationist, I find it very sad that an endangered #Gorilla in the #Cincinnati Zoo died because of parents not watching their child
— NaturallyCurly (@monroe305) May 29, 2016
#gorilla shooting #Cincinnati 😀 pic.twitter.com/KDVEX1qSB6
— cliff lauri ⚒ (@cliffglaurious) May 30, 2016
(Feature Image Source: Twitter)