A
4-year-old boy, who was visiting the Cincinnati Zoo with his family, caused
quite an uproar when he slipped away from his parents, crawled under wire
fencing and fell 4 meters down into the moat of a gorilla enclosure. Harambe,
the 17-year-old male silverback gorilla who lived in the exhibit, came down to
the moat, appearing to try and help the boy at first. He was initially curious
about the child, observing it and looking at the little boy's hands. But soon
things took a terrifying turn. The gorilla started to drag the little boy
around the moat so quickly that is caused the crowd to scream and shout out in
fits of panic. Even though, it seemed like the gorilla didn't want to hurt him,
its enormous size and weight could have been detrimental to the young child.
Watch
the video below to see what happened immediately after the boy fell into the
enclosure. (Warning, not for sensitive viewers!)
In
the video, Harambe is seen taking the little boy behind some rocks in the
enclosure and the zoo staff see it as its duty to act quickly. The gorilla
unfortunately needed to be shot, as the child's life was in danger. The fire
department was then able to free the 4-year-old from the enclosure. "It
breaks our hearts to have lost Harambe, but a child was in danger and we had to
make a quick decision", said the zoo director. "As long as the child
was still within reach, we could not numb the gorilla. A tranquilizer dart
takes effect only after a few minutes and the child was in danger. In addition,
the tranquillizer shot could have upset the animal, which could have made the
situation even worse", the zoo director continued.
Thankfully,
the boy could be rescued and taken to hospital where his injuries were treated.
It was an accident that could have been completely avoided but it ended up
being a terrible loss for the endangered species.
Via
: hefty.co