I wanted express my feelings regarding this Gorilla Harambe being shot. I know that people are more than tired of hearing about this. There are a lot more important things in this world that had happen that did not get any attention. Now, I am a big animal lover and I would choose animals over people anyday!
One of the reasons why I feel the need to express myself on this topic, Is because I actually stated, that he looked as if he was trying to protect the child. Now, I watched many videos and read many different opinions on the topic, but come to find out few days later those videos were actually edited. Do you know how stupid I feel saying, " It looks like he was protecting the child? " Pretty damn stupid!
I know some stuff about Gorilla's but never personally had the honor to work with them. I am not an zoologist or an expert! The two things that I could tell from the "edited" videos that he was in an threating pasture. In the video's he kept looking upwards, I figured he was directing this posture towards the screaming crowd. I also saw him shield the child, which can be a good and bad thing. They been known to be very gentle and very intelligent. They aren't called gentle giants for no reason. I also know that zoo keepers always keep an barrier between them and the Gorillaz because males can be very aggressive. The idea of him protecting the child was an good thought because I did not see him aggressively grab the boy. I know that these amazing animals have strength of scary proportions. If he seriously wanted to "kill" or direct his anger towards the child. He would have killed him straight away. In the "edited" video It looked like a curious child and an Massive Gorilla trying to figures things out together. The one thing about the video made me wonder about it being edited or not was the fact it did not show the gorilla going from one place to another. This is why I really did not make an comment.
With that said! I saw the non edited video. I feel bad that the boy went through something that dramatic at a young age. I also do not really blame the parents for neglect. Things can happen quicker than a person can respond to. Any parent can relate to turning their back for one second and something goes wrong. The child should not have been able to get to the point of falling. That is totally the zoo's fault. There has been many records of children falling into gorilla pits or climbing over fences to get a better look. I actually wanted to climb into enclosure when I was younger, I mean who wouldn't? As a child everything is friendly and loving. Children are taught that these animals are friendly and cute cuddly. They aren't properly taught the dangers that are really involved along with the need to respect them.
Now, It is sad that this animal has been shot. We are trying to protect them and not kill them. The zoo was in the right because if they did not take this course of action. The boy might not be alive today. The risk for the zoo and the boy was to high for them to weigh the options. If they try to tranquilize him than it would have been a waiting game and anything could have happened to the boy in that time. He could have gotten angry because he was shot and took his anger out on the child. Than people would be like WHY DIDN'T they just shoot the him?? Than again we do not know, they might have fell asleep together, right? *rolls eyes*
In the video the way the boy was dragged. I would have been terrified for that child. That was a full on display threat to the crowd. They are known to drag tree logs to prove a point. Even though at one point the gorilla wasn't sure about the boy. People have a tendency to forget that wild animals are not always the most forgiving. In the wild they have been observed to deliberately kill babies - especially in mountain gorillas. Usually this is the case after a female finds another male together with her baby or if a new leading male takes over. This is usually called infanticide, is meant to shorten the time until the the female becomes fertile again and the new male can have his own offspring with her. He could have found this child as a threat to his position. I know one point in the video where you could not clearly see the Gorilla anymore. You can clearly hear someone say, " OMG, he is drowning the child. ". That moment as a mother I would have killed him myself. I would have probably jumped in my damn self and took the gorilla on. Even though I would have probably died trying.
Anyway! The point is that the zoo was right for taking the action they did, though they need to make sure this doesn't happen again! The boy is with their family and the lost of a great amazing creature is sad! We as a human race needs to realize how important is to teach our children that these animals need respect.
Enough said! I stated my opinion!