"In an agitated situation, it may take quite a while for the tranquilizer to take effect," he said. Where the gorillas live: Two years after the killing of Harambe, Zoo redoubled efforts to save gorillas in the wild Maynard said though Harambe didn't attack the child, the animal's size and strength posed a great danger. "We've never had a situation like this at the Cincinnati Zoo where a dangerous animal needed to be dispatched in an emergency situation." Why was Harambe killed?įearing for the child's life, the zoo's response team shot and killed Harambe, according to Maynard. "The choice was made to put down, or shoot, Harambe, so he's gone," Maynard said. The child was with the animal for about 10 minutes before the zoo's Dangerous Animal Response Team deemed the situation "life-threatening," Maynard said. Several days earlier, a walrus drowned a visitor and zookeeper at China’s Yeshanko Wildlife Zoo, after the visitor entered the walrus’s enclosure and began taking selfies with it.Harambe grabbed the boy and dragged him around. On May 21, officials at Chile’s National Zoo were forced to shoot and kill two lions, after a suicidal 20-year-old man jumped into the enclosure. On May 23, a drunk man narrowly avoided injury after jumping into an enclosure at India’s Nehru Zoo Park and attempting to touch two lions. Globally, zoo standards for safety and animal welfare vary widely, and Harambe’s death is hardly the only accident to strike a zoo in recent weeks. Zoo officials say that the child’s life was in imminent danger, as Harambe dragged the child through a moat surrounding the enclosure. were lauded for “protecting” young children who had fallen into their enclosure.Ī visitor at the Cincinnati Zoo on Saturday described some of Harambe’s actions as similarly protective, in an interview with local news station WLWT. In contrast, big cats such as lions and tigers have injured or killed humans on 41 separate occasions since 1990, resulting in five deaths.Īnd on two separate occasions in 19, captive gorillas in the U.S. Primates have not been involved in a lethal U.S. zoos have injured humans on 15 separate occasions since 1990, accounting for less than a seventh of total human injuries. zoo since the 2004 death of Jabari, a 13-year-old western lowland gorilla that escaped from the Dallas Zoo and attacked several people before charging at police officers, who ultimately shot him. Harambe is the first gorilla to be fatally shot in a U.S. In that same timeframe, 15 zoo incidents resulted in the loss of human life, and 110 resulted in injury, including the Cincinnati Zoo incident. zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, according to a database compiled by Born Free USA, a nonprofit animal advocacy group. Since 1990, animals died during escapes or attacks 42 times in U.S. There are about 765 gorillas like Harambe in zoos worldwide, 360 of which are members of a captive breeding program. Harambe’s death comes at a time when each gorilla life is vital: Western lowland gorillas are critically endangered, numbering fewer than 175,000 in the wild. Officials at the Cincinnati Zoo on Saturday shot and killed Harambe, a 17-year-old western lowland gorilla, in an effort to protect a young child who had fallen into the enclosure. The recent killing of a gorilla in the Cincinnati Zoo serves as a stark reminder of the safety lapses-for animals and humans alike-that continue to affect zoos worldwide, including in the United States.
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