Gorilla tragedy at Cincinati zoo

[Catherine]

There is a lot of stuff being said on social media.

There is  no way to undo what has been done. I just hope lessons are learned from it. Zoos may need better barriers to keep the people under control. sad because it puts a wall between us and the animals when more walls are not needed(except to stop human stupidity)

[Ruth]

Jane Goodall chimes in on Facebook:

http://jezebel.com/jane-goodall-on-slain...socialflow

[Catherine]

We are all heartbroken over the loss. Nothing can undo what was done. All we can do is make sure nothing like this ever happens again.

There were many people at the exhibit screaming and acting stupid after the child fell. Did none of them notice the child before he fell?

[Ruth]

What did you expect them to do besides scream? They know nothing about Gorillas and probably thought the kid was in danger. How do you propose they should have acted? He is a 3 or 4 year old child. It seems nobody really knew what to do. It is a horrible tragedy. The kid may have crawled into bushes unnoticed until he fell into the moat. That's the impression I got. Why make everyone out to be horrible?

[Catherine]

I found a follow up article. From a gorilla point of view this death is serious.

http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0


Keeping the species of gorilla alive and genetically healthy is very complex. Harambe's death is going to cause some rethinking and replanning of future matches.


I have never seen the point of screaming. It puts everyone on edge and it does nothing useful in an emergency. It is usually such high pitched sound that it does not communicate information. In an emergency a calm response is best. That way instructions can be given and proper actions can be taken. The gorilla became agitated by the screaming. Calm reactions by the humans might have kept the situation more under control.

That has been my experience in many things. A calm reaction is why I survived some very serious situations. I think screaming would have gotten me killed.

[platy]

Zoo's can't win in situations like this.

People blame the zoo for not having better containment or fencing. Yet if zoos put up more barriers people complain that there's more barriers and it's inhibiting their view and putting the animals in cages and then you have the likes of stupid activists and PETA screaming that he shouldn't have been in a zoo in the first place and they should all be shut down.
I wish PETA would shut up.

Shooting the gorilla would not have been an easy decision to make and I know the people in that situation are heartbroken.
People need to understand that the zoo is their home and when we go there we are to RESPECT their homes, like we would expect people to respect our homes.
The boy and his parents clearly had no respect.

[Catherine]

You are so right.

Zoos can't win. They are working to save endangered species. They make it possible for us to see these beautiful creatures.
We  want to see them with as few fences as possible. Because there was a proper fence, but no glass or heavy bars, the unthinkable happened. People did not respect the boundaries, the fact that the space was the gorilla's home. I still think the gorilla acted out of concern for the child.

The zoo had to react in an emergency. There was no time to do anything else.
The outcome was tragic.

If we had not destroyed so much of the gorilla's native habitat in Africa there would be no need for conservation/breeding programs. Most of the zoo gorillas are descended from orphaned gorillas brought from Africa in the first place.  We are the ones that orphaned them.

No matter how you look at it humans have created the situation and humans have made it worse.

Harambe paid for our mistakes with his life.

[platy]

(06-06-2016, 12:21 PM)Catherine Wrote: You are so right.

Zoos can't win. They are working to save endangered species. They make it possible for us to see these beautiful creatures.
We  want to see them with as few fences as possible. Because there was a proper fence, but no glass or heavy bars, the unthinkable happened. People did not respect the boundaries, the fact that the space was the gorilla's home. I still think the gorilla acted out of concern for the child.

The zoo had to react in an emergency. There was no time to do anything else.
The outcome was tragic.

If we had not destroyed so much of the gorilla's native habitat in Africa there would be no need for conservation/breeding programs. Most of the zoo gorillas are descended from orphaned gorillas brought from Africa in the first place.  We are the ones that orphaned them.

No matter how you look at it humans have created the situation and humans have made it worse.

Harambe paid for our mistakes with his life.

I've seen a bit of footage and while I'm no expert I don't believe dragging the kid through the water was out of protection. Regardless what's done is done and we can only hope people have learned from this. 

Everyone should have a read of this http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/201...i_zoo.html

[Catherine]

That is a well thought out article. There is no doubt that Harambe became agitated by the situation. That did increase the danger level. The whole situation was out of hand the moment the child fell into the exhibit. The zoo had to make the best decision they could, immediately.

Discussions that look at what happened and try to prevent further accidents are helpful. Second guessing the zoo and what it did is not helpful. It won't bring Harambe back.

Most zoos are going to be looking at their enclosures and increasing their safety levels. It is sad because those of us who do respect zoo boundaries will be less and less able to see our favourite animals. It will have to be that way for the safety of the animals.

[Tiger Lover]

How unfortunate. RIP Harambre.