Expert Agrees With Cincinnati Zoo’s Decision to Shoot Gorilla

Jack Phillips
5/30/2016
Updated:
5/30/2016

Jack Hanna, the famed wildlife expert and director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, said he agreed with the Cincinnati Zoo’s move to use lethal force against a 17-year-old gorilla after a 4-year-old boy fell into its enclosure.

Hanna, who has made numerous television appearances, said he agrees “1,000 percent” with the zoo’s move to shoot the gorilla, named Harambe.

“They made the correct decision. Matter of fact, it’s a millisecond decision,” Hanna said on “CBS This Morning” Monday. “All of us are sorry. We’re all, in the zoo world, heartfelt for this whole thing but thank goodness a human being is alive today because of the decision that the zoo made.”

Another animal expert, Jeff Corwin, told the network that tranquilizers might have taken too long to act. “It can take, in some situations, depending on what the medication is, it can take upward to 10 to 15 minutes. It may take multiple shots,” he said.

On social media and elsewhere, a number of people slammed the parents of the child, and some said she should be criminally charged.

Others also criticized the zoo’s response to the situation.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals also released a statement, saying the zoo needs better barriers.

“This tragedy is exactly why PETA urges families to stay away from any facility that displays animals as sideshows for humans to gawk at,” the statement read.

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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