Astonishing new footage shows gorilla 'PROTECTING' boy and holding his hand before being shot dead

[snagglepuss]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/astonishing-new-footage-shows-gorilla-8082168

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

1. I can't understand why

If the zoo people felt compelled to act immediately, they didn't tranquilize the poor thing. The entire mess is disgraceful.

[kentauros]

2. Because tranqs aren't instant-acting.

Somewhere around here is a post by one of the zoo-personnel explaining the reasons for bullets versus tranq-darts. Find that thread, because she does a better job of explaining it than I could

[jberryhill]

3. Then why not read their explanation?

The first thing the gorilla feels is the pain from the dart. The gorilla is going to react angrily to that LONG before it feels any effect from the drugs.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. That has been explained several times. It takes several minutes for the tranquilizer to take effect

and the animal is very disoriented during that time. It was feared that the child could be harmed or killed before the gorilla was subdued and he could be safely rescued.

Please keep in mind, the last thing that zoo personnel wanted was to kill an animal that had been under their care for years. However, they could not risk the life of the child by hoping that he would not be harmed before he could be removed from the enclosure.

You can cast blame on the parents for not adequately supervising their child, on the zoo for properly maintaining barriers or anyone else you can think of. This was a tragic outcome for the gorilla, through no fault of his own, but the life of the child was the most important factor in this situation.

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

6. I'm sorry

I found the story too heart breaking to read, and hadn't. Still haven't.

At the Toledo Zoo, when I was 6, they had a chimpanzee exhibit with sort of velvet ropes not too far back from a cage , which was just barred. I went under the ropes and was hand feeding peanuts to the chimps and shaking hands with one, when another grabbed my arm pulled me hard up against the bars and bit my bicep, making me need 5 stitches. Scared me more than anything. As I was being led away to the nurses station, a zoo employee went into the cage with a whip and beat all 3 chimps.

I'll never forget their screams and the feeling that it was my fault, not theirs. I've always had a much softer spot for animals well being and protection, than most folks I know. Maybe because of that incident.

I'm sorry my intentional ignorance has seemed to offend some of you. I'm still not ready to read the accounts, and may not ever.

[Mendocino]

7. What year did this occur?

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

15. Had to be

68 or 69.

[NobodyHere]

9. According to many on DU

Your parents were horrible for letting you go under the ropes and get that close to the chimps.

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

16. Times were different almost a half century ago

There is an element here that seems to go out of their way to find disapproval of someone/something or show off their ability to express outrage and offense on behalf of others, when they often seem to have no dog in the hunt, themselves.

They're, most of the time, easily recognizable. I afford them minimal credibility and pay very little attention to them, other than for head shaking amusement.

[Adrahil]

10. Because trancs don't take effect instantly, and...

beasties sometimes react violently to getting a dart shot into them.

Seriously, the zoo didn't WANT to kill Harambe, but they had not choice.

[Ms. Yertle]

5. No one knows what the gorilla was thinking

There is also footage of him roughly dragging the child around, and even if he just wanted to play with the boy, he was 450 lbs, and much, much stronger than a human being. Regardless of his intent, the child could have been badly injured or even killed.

I'm not going to second-guess the professionals who made the decision to put him down.

[NobodyHere]

8. I suppose dragging the kid through water was some kind of protection measure?

Seems to me the ape claimed the kid as his property and probably wouldn't have given him up lightly.

[Adrahil]

11. Please understand....

That even if he had no ill intent, that gorilla could have easily killed the boy with no intention of harming him. It's a damned shame he was killed, but the zoo keepers really had no choice at the time.

[closeupready]

12. I watched the footage, and it appears to me the boy was in fact in danger.

The ape is roughly dragging the child behind him.

In my mind, I keep thinking of that story of the woman who went to visit her friend who kept a chimp; she'd been there before, but on this occasion, she'd changed her hair color, and the chimp literally went bonkers, severely harming her, and almost killing her. Apes are, of course, much stronger than chimps.

Travis was the chimp's name:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_(chimpanzee)

So while it's sad, I do think they needed to neutralize that threat.

[aikoaiko]

13. It was a tough call. I can't fault the zookeepers from shooting the gorilla.

Primatologists can say that was protective behavior but it was still rough enough to severely hurt the child.

I have a bigger problem with the ease with which a small child could enter the enclosure.

[hlthe2b]

14. I won't second guess zoo authorities on this one, but definitely the "parent"

Sorry parents, but one does not go to a zoo, airplane tarmac, interstate highway, shooting range, rim edge of Grand Canyon, unattended swimming pool, or any of the other myriad of extra high risk areas--without keeping total track of your child and ESPECIALLY one who has already indicated an intent to try to enter/get closer to the gorilla exhibit.

Yes, everyone gets distracted, but there are times and places where that is INEXCUSABLE.

[Rex]

17. We put these animals in jeopardy every single day for our own amusement.

Then we destroy them without a second thought, gee zoos are GREAT places.

Free range or nothing.

[mnhtnbb]

18. A woman who has worked as a zookeeper with silverback gorillas has a different take on the video

I keep hearing that the Gorilla was trying to protect the boy. I do not find this to be true. Harambe reaches for the boys hands and arms, but only to position the child better for his own displaying purposes.

Males do very elaborate displays when highly agitated, slamming and dragging things about. Typically they would drag large branches, barrels and heavy weighted balls around to make as much noise as possible. Not in an effort to hurt anyone or anything (usually) but just to intimidate. It was clear to me that he was reacting to the screams coming from the gathering crowd.

Harambe was most likely not going to separate himself from that child without seriously hurting him first (again due to mere size and strength, not malicious intent) Why didn't they use treats? well, they attempted to call them off exhibit (which animals hate), the females in the group came in, but Harambe did not. What better treat for a captive animal than a real live kid!

They didn't use Tranquilizers for a few reasons, A. Harambe would've taken too long to become immobilized, and could have really injured the child in the process as the drugs used may not work quickly enough depending on the stress of the situation and the dose B. Harambe would've have drowned in the moat if immobilized in the water, and possibly fallen on the boy trapping him and drowning him as well.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027872137

[ScreamingMeemie]

19. Jane Goodall has a different take on the video...

http://pets.people.com/pets/2016/05/31/article/jane-goodall-responds-harambe-gorillas-death?xid=socialflow_facebook_peoplemag

Everyone is going to have an opinion, even within the field. I tend to side with Jane Goodall, but it's not like it will change anything.

[mnhtnbb]

20. It's not "new footage"--this is the same video that's been available

since it happened.

The problem is that zookeepers do not go in to the gorilla enclosures.
The incident that Jane Goodall cites involved a FEMALE gorilla bringing a child
to the zookeepers. Very different behavior from what Harambe--a male-- was exhibiting.

Goodall was mostly expressing her sympathy to the zoo and the awful decision they had to make
to put Harambe down in order to save the child. She is also concerned with how
the female gorillas are handling the loss of Harambe.

We heard Goodall speak one time at Duke, where she has donated all her records. Her focus was on chimps.

[Marrah_G]

21. You are anthropomorphizing the situation

You cannot look at Gorilla behavior and equate it with human behavior. People do this all the time and it is a mistake.

A gorilla, especially a male gorilla is a very very dangerous animal. It is not a cuddly cousin.

Edit: One more thing. The very people who put that animal down are the people who cared the most for that animal. They interacted with him everyday. I am sure they are an emotional mess. This wasn't something the WANTED to do.

[gollygee]

22. The issue wasn't that he was mean, it was that he was really strong and powerful

And even being nice could accidentally tear the little boy apart without meaning to.

Also, that is not new footage. It's the most widely available footage. He also dragged the little boy by the foot under water.