4 year old child falls into gorilla habitat
 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.2653278






http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.2653278

wow this is such a sad story. This is just all around tragic, I don't think there was any other option than to kill this poor gorilla and I think the zoo people gave a reasonable explanation as to why they could not use tranquilizers, although I am sad it had to be killed. I'm glad that four year old boy is not seriously harmed, this would be a completely different story if the boy had been killed by this gorilla.

I know this boys parents are experiencing some media backlash for not watching their son more closely, but I am on the fence about it. Sometimes the most attentive parents can look away for a second and boom their kid is in danger/trouble. But then some witnesses (I don't know how reliable they are) said the four year old was talking to the mother saying that he wanted to swim with the gorilla and the mother said no, and that the kid deliberately climbed into the gorilla pen. Several people on face book and twitter are crucifying the boys parents.

There are billions of people, very few gorillas by comparison. This was a mistake.

As unfortunate as the situation was, I honestly don't get how anyone can think that risking the life of a 4 year old boy for an endangered animal makes any sense. Yeah, it shouldn't have happened to begin with but guess what, sh*t happens. You can blame the parents all you want, maybe they were at fault, maybe they weren't. None of us know, we weren't there and we don't know them. But what we do know is that a child's life was in danger. It's easy for anyone to sit their ass behind a keyboard and see other fellow human beings as just another number yet we all know they'd be singing a totally different f*ckin' tune if that was one of their loved ones in any life-threatening situation.

y u mad tho

The kid wasn't in any real danger, but to be honest, if we're looking at things objectively, the gorilla is more important than the kid.

People are 8billion strong, there are less than 800 gorillas alive.

**** the kid, and his parents, and the idiot that shot the gorilla. **** the zoo in general.

You could literally lose all the attendees at the zoo that day, and still not make any real dent in humanity.

We worry about humans far more than we should.

It was the murder of an innocent.


Zoos shouldn't exist in the first place. It's wrong.

I ain't mad. Just being logical. The cursing is for emphasis.

Emphasis on being wrong.

You're right. F*ck you and your family. Humanity will go on without you. That's all that matters right?

Beer's on me if we ever meet.

It would, sadly. I'm not in a hurry to go, given this is the only life we get, and I'm as human as you are, and therefore irresponsibly selfish, but if you're objective, like I said, being human doesn't translate to MVP, and the world really doesn't need me, or my family. If you let yourself, you begin to see that you, as a living breathing thing, contribute nothing of value to the ecosystem; you only damage it. You are, as they say, a runaway causality, bound by spacetime, destroying everything, only to create more you. We are a successful species, thanks to our aggression, and selfishness; fortunately these are the same two traits that will resolve us.

But rock on brother, keep on that self righteous path, as usual.

You're one of the few here, where I'd reciprocate. Respect.

Sure, we're all meaningless to the universe. But so what? We as humans don't make decisions based on whether it'll matter to the world or greater universe. Like you said, we're selfish. The only thing that matters is us because we make ourselves the "MVPs." If you truly want to be objective, then you shouldn't care one way or the other. Gorillas are just as selfish and meaningless as humans. So what's the difference? It's our selfishness that puts importance on one over the other. Yet people bitch about that poor gorilla who they would have murdered themselves if they had the chance had that been their child down there. Suddenly, all that mathematical dribble goes down the toilet. The world may be objective, but that's not how we live it. Not then, not now, not ever.

What kind of sick individual are you? You have kids? Nieces or nephews?

Damn man.

I'm sorry...zoos shouldn't exist?
Why do you think there are even 800 gorillas still left in the world?

Where do you think all those animals that get hurt year in and year out by human negligence end up when they're too damaged by the experience to be released back into the wild go?

Zoos.

Where do you think the medical training and knowledge to help them in the first place comes from?

Zoos.

Where do species protection and repopulation plans come from?

Zoos.

This was an accident. The kid was stupid and he's damn lucky that the zoo had an emergency plan in place or he'd be dead by not. Not because gorillas are an inherently dangerous species, but because they're 10x stronger than we are. Would the gorilla torn the kid in half? No, but it easily could have. What's more likely is that the kid would have been killed by rough treatment the animal would have thought it could be able to withstand.

For point of reference, not even the zoo keepers go into an enclosure with an animal like a gorilla. There's always a barrier between them. A strong barrier.

The parents should consider themselves lucky beyond measure that their kid isn't dead. I get that parenting is hard. I get that you can't have eyes on your spawn at all times. All it takes is for an accident to happen is for someone to not be paying attention, and they learned this the hard way.
Not as hard as the gorilla learned it...

I suppose I'd have more sympathy, but having actually worked in a zoo, and seen first hand how stupid people are when it comes to wild animals...I've got less than my already limited amount of patience.

I gotta agree with the zoo's decision. Male gorillas are much more aggressive than females, there's no telling what it would have done to that child.

Plastroncafe has said it all! And he could probably even say a lot more because comments like that need to be stamped into dust.
Zoos matter and people are idiots.


This situation made me think of the 1996 situation where a child fell in an enclosure, and was carried by a gorilla. But there were some differences that came into play. The biggest one that the 1996 incident was with a much-younger female gorilla that was a mother. She carried the boy right to the door where the keepers and handed him over when they got there. She discouraged the approach of her companions and didn't let them near the kid. That gorilla is now the star of her zoo. She didn't **** around with the kid; she brought him to rescue immediately.

The new situation has involved a much-older Silverback. Not just any male gorilla, but a "boss" gorilla. The ones that we have been psychologically engrained to associate with aggression. The child wasn't unconscious either.

These are two very different situations, and the differences should absolutely be taken into account. Panic ruled supreme in this new one, because the gorilla was a Silverback, and the child was awake.

While the parents should be held accountable, their child should not be taken from them, if only for his psychological sake. Because nothing would reinforce a potentially newfound terror of gorillas like being taken from his parents.

I'm no expert on animal behaviour but watching the footage, these were my thoughts exactly. It definitely had a protective vibe going on, but when he was suddenly dragged through the water it's a scary reminder of how scary strong these things are. I don't think it would have tried to hurt the kid, but most likely would have due to his strength.

The dragging is another very important aspect compared to the other situation. The 1996 boy was carried gently and held. This one was not. It doesn't matter if he was trying to protect the kid. He was a big, powerful animal, probably not aware of how strong he was, and that put the child in danger.

Another thing to consider is: how many of you have successfully kept track of a toddler anywhere? Be it in a home or in public. Toddlers can disappear or get into a mess in a blink of an eye. While I have a personal anecdote that doesn't fit at all, it still applies. I disappeared from my parents when I was nearly three, my mother very pregnant with my brother, while they were working on the backyard fence. They struggled in vain to find me, only to discover after several minutes, I was sitting in front of the well-hidden refrigerator eating Cool Whip. With the door still open. They thought I was lost in the neighborhood - or worse. I think they even came close to calling the police.

Toddlers are difficult to look after, and many of you here who are parents know this. Look away for a few seconds, and they'll have spilled all the cereal on the floor. Take a three-minute shower and the playroom is a disaster. Turn your attention to the baby in a stroller, and the older one is in the gorilla enclosure.

I have Asperger's (and I'm sure it was obvious), and my children most certainly will too. Which is why I don't object to backpack leashes. If my kids are anything like me, they'll be zipping all over a zoo before I have a chance to catch up with them. Of course, I also wouldn't be taking care of a baby at the same time as a toddler. My family has lost track of me on some occasions - but I'm not going to include the Paris metro incident because that was an accident.

Parental mindfulness may be difficult, but precaution measures weren't in play. There was no telling that the kid would end up in the enclosure, but never assume that a toddler wouldn't run off and get into trouble while their parents are distracted.

Holy sh*t. This is the first thing you've said that I 100% agree with.

The kid was indeed in very real danger. Just because the gorilla didn't immediately tear him apart doesn't mean that he wouldn't have.

Just because you don't care for your fellow man doesn't mean others don't. To you, the obituaries page is just a bunch of dead people who you never knew and don't care about. But these individual people meant a lot - the whole world - to others. You don't seem to think you mean a lot to other people, but you probably do.

Humans are naturally superior to the other creatures of this world. That's why there are 8 billion of them. And while I don't think that gives humans a right to kill animals for fun, we have every right to kill them for food or other such purposes - such as self-preservation. This was a killing out of necessity, not out of sport.

It doesn't matter what the ratio of humans to gorillas is. It's all about context.

Also, plastron is completely right about zoos. Sometimes, places like Sea World will mistreat animals, sometimes mistreat them horrible. But oftentimes the people working with the animals give them a nice home and a nice life.

In the meantime, I advise you to get some perspective. You're talking like Ultron, not a human being.

Honest question for the people saying the zoo shouldn't of shot the gorilla...what do you do if the gorilla was successful in harming the child? Do you sit back and do nothing after its done whatever it is it's doing? Sounds like some of you have no idea how dangerous these animals can really be because all you saw in a video was something that "looked" like it was protecting a kid.