Dead Gorilla

Mountain_Girl406

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This is a sad story. I find the reactions interesting. As a parent, I feel horrible for the parent whose child's life was threatened. Lots of others hate the parent and feel bad for the gorilla. How should we feel about this one?

Dead Gorilla
I think that the problem is that animals like that don't belong in captivity. I feel bad for the parents, hope the child recovers fully and think it was probably the best call considering.
But I feel the same way about zoos that I do about Sea World.
 
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CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN

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This is a sad story. I find the reactions interesting. As a parent, I feel horrible for the parent whose child's life was threatened. Lots of others hate the parent and feel bad for the gorilla. How should we feel about this one?

Dead Gorilla
Parent should keep a better eye on their 4 year old. So thing like this don't happen. Do I feel horrible for the parent? No. Their kid is fine. And they deserve to be startled like that. I feel bad about a gorilla getting killed, for something that wasn't his fault.
 
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Nithavela

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The Zoo is to blame, neither the gorilla (who is just an animal following it's instincts) nor the parents, who certainly didn't intend this to happen. And what are they supposed to do, keep their child on a leash? It only takes seconds for a child to slip through some bars.
 
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TheQuietRiot

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The Zoo is to blame, neither the gorilla (who is just an animal following it's instincts) nor the parents, who certainly didn't intend this to happen. And what are they supposed to do, keep their child on a leash? It only takes seconds for a child to slip through some bars.

Some parents do put young children on a leash, for this kind of reason.

I don't think the parents are blameless in this situation. Of course it isn't possible to keep an eye on a child 100% of the time I'd of thought that when taking your children to an open enclosure of a potentially very dangerous animal a little more care would have been taken.
 
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Nithavela

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Some parents do put young children on a leash, for this kind of reason.

Maybe in the USA, I have yet to see this in germany.

I'm not even sure that such a thing would be lawfull over here.
 
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ChristsSoldier115

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Maybe in the USA, I have yet to see this in germany.

I'm not even sure that such a thing would be lawfull over here.
Whats wrong with that?
blogger-image--290920459.jpg
 
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TheQuietRiot

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Maybe in the USA, I have yet to see this in germany.

I'm not even sure that such a thing would be lawfull over here.

Well I live in England and they aren't common but not unheard of.

There is no reason why it would be unlawful, it isn't a choke chain it is a safety harness.
 
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Nithavela

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Well I live in England and they aren't common but not unheard of.

There is no reason why it would be unlawful, it isn't a choke chain it is a safety harness.
Those harnesses/leashes are seen as undignified, treating children as animals and pets instead of human beings. And the first article of the german Grundgesetz states that the dignity of man shall not be harmed.

After a bit of research: Those leashes are lawfull, but heavily, heavily frowned upon in germany.

An German children don't jump into gorilla enclosures that often, either, so I guess it's not too bad.
 
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Judahs_Lion

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The parents were inattentive to a young curious child in a dangerous place. The child's injuries are solely on them.
I feel for the child having to suffer that.
I feel for the gorilla in that lowland silver back gorillas are endangered. And this one did not have to die. He wasn't going to hurt this boy. He was protecting this child as he would one of his own. The screaming people caused the gorilla to go into protective mode. He covered the boy and stood there looking at the crowd of screamers.

He wasn't able to discern they were screaming in fear of the child. In his world even in captivity screaming passionate emotions that gorillas can sense on a wholly different level than humans means threat. He was protecting the child not risking his life.

Now this boy will have to live with the horrific emotional scars afforded from his fall and injuries. As well as hearing the gunshots , the buckling shock of the bullet impacts upon the body of the gorilla who was protecting him. The smell of cordite, hot blood, the sounds of the gorilla taking the bullets and then dying.

Because humans in this case were at fault all the way around.

A tranquilizer would have saved the boy and the gorilla. The decision to kill this gorilla was irresponsible.
 
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AvilaSurfer

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An German children don't jump into gorilla enclosures that often, either, so I guess it's not too bad.
Because......master race and all......
 
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ThatRobGuy

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It's obviously an unfortunate situation that played out, and there's probably some blame to be given to both the parents, for not being more careful with their youngster, and the zoo, for not having better security measures (IE: better enclosures, tighter railings, etc.. so that children couldn't get in so easily)

However, in terms of the response, it's a no brainer in terms of the decision to shoot the gorilla...it's a 400 pound animal that could, quite frankly, rip the limbs off of a regular human. (especially a youngster like that).

My stance is that if it's "person vs. animal", you opt to help the person 10 times out of 10. (at least that's my opinion).


On the topic of Animal Captivity, I'm really torn on that issue. As @Mountain_Girl406 mentioned, captivity and close interactions with humans aren't the natural condition of most of these animals. ...on the other hand, captivity has been necessary for the advancement of the zoology, veterinary, and biological sciences... and the advancements of those 3 fields would certainly take a blow if we completely eliminated all forms of animal captivity.
 
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Tree of Life

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Some parents do put young children on a leash, for this kind of reason.

I don't think the parents are blameless in this situation. Of course it isn't possible to keep an eye on a child 100% of the time I'd of thought that when taking your children to an open enclosure of a potentially very dangerous animal a little more care would have been taken.

It is worth noting that she had 6 kids with her and she was the only adult overseeing these kids. That's a pretty chaotic situation.
 
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Tree of Life

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A tranquilizer would have saved the boy and the gorilla. The decision to kill this gorilla was irresponsible.

Not according to Thane Maynard, the naturalist, scientist, and zoo director. He may have been speaking from a PR standpoint but he believes that the fire department made the right call in "dispatching" the gorilla. Tranquilizers can take time to have an effect and could also aggravate the gorilla.
 
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Tree of Life

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My stance is that if it's "person vs. animal", you opt to help the person 10 times out of 10. (at least that's my opinion).

Thank you. I find it totally mind-boggling that this ^ is becoming a more controversial view in our culture. Here's a gem from the comments section related to this incident:

IMG_7593.png
 
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jayem

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Very sad. I didn't think gorillas were usually that aggressive. At least not as savage as chimpanzees. If the boy fell into a chimp enclosure, he'd likely be torn to pieces.

The main viewing areas of the great ape house at the St. Louis Zoo are glass enclosed. These are the orangutans, and the chimp and gorilla exhibits are similar. You can get closer to the animals, with greater safety.

orangutanhabitat_micahusher.jpg
 
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GoldenBoy89

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It is worth noting that she had 6 kids with her and she was the only adult overseeing these kids. That's a pretty chaotic situation.
Then maybe this does land squarely on the parent/guardian. This would never fly as an excuse had something happened to one of the kids at home. I don't see why it should be any different at a zoo.
 
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GoldenBoy89

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Thank you. I find it totally mind-boggling that this ^ is becoming a more controversial view in our culture. Here's a gem from the comments section related to this incident:

View attachment 175300
I like to think the internet is not totally representative of the attitudes of our society and that most of what you see in comments sections is just trolls and jerks trying to be funny for each other.

The idea that anyone would think the child deserved any of this or is at all to blame, is disgusting.
 
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