The 17-year-old Harambe, a 400-pound male gorilla, was shot and killed at the Cincinnati zoo by the zoo's security officers after the gorilla grabbed a boy who fell into the cage.
During the time the gorilla grabbed the 4-year-old boy, zoo visitors panicked as they watched helplessly and some people shouted "Stay calm!" while the mother of the child can be heard yelling, "Mommy loves you!" The Guardian reported.
As the boy sat still in the water while looking up at the gorilla, the predominantly herbivorous ape touched the boy's hand and back. But, some said that the gorilla seemed to help the youngster to stand up.
Two witnesses made it known that they thought the gorilla was trying to protect the child at first, before the animal got frightened by the screams of zoo visitors. Then the gorilla picked up the scared boy out of the moat and dragged him to a particular place inside the cage.
Thayne Maynard, the zoo director, stated that the boy crawled through the railing and fell into the enclosure. A Cincinnati fire department incident report stated that the animal "was violently dragging and throwing the 4 year old boy" when they were called in to rescue, as stated by WLWT.
"An old man can cry, too," Jerry Stones, who raised Harambe since birth, stated to the NY Daily News. "Harambe was a special guy in my life. Harambe was my heart. It's like losing a member of the family.
Some people even suggested that the parents of the child should be held responsible for the zoo incident. And in less than 24 hours, online petition seeking "justice for Harambe" gathered more than 8,000 signatures, as stated by CNN.
However, there were no footages showing the gorilla dragging the little kid. But, the 4-year-old boy was hospitalized and suffered serious injuries.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
