THE MOMENT A GORILLA GRABBED A BOY
“Stay calm!” yelled visitors as a 400- pound- plus gorilla loomed over a four-yearold who had fallen into a moat in an enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Fearing for the boy’s life, the zoo’s emergency response team shot and killed the 17-year- old endangered ape, named Harambe, who picked up the boy.
Zoo staff said the male gorilla was “an extremely strong” animal in an agitated situation. Tranquilizing it, they said, wouldn’t have knocked it out instantly.
A witness heard the boy say he wanted to get into the water with the gorilla. She said the boy’s mom was with several other young kids and told him “No.”
Zoo officials said the boy, who climbed through a barrier and some bushes to get to the Gorilla World exhibit, fell about three metres, but is expected to recover.