A 3-year-old boy was hospitalized with serious injuries and a gorilla was shot dead after officials said the boy climbed through a railing and fell into a moat at the Cincinnati Zoo’s gorilla enclosure.
A 17-year-old, 400-pound male lowland gorilla, Harambe, was shot and killed by the zoo’s dangerous animal response team about 10 minutes after the boy made it into the enclosure.
Zoo director Thane Maynard said that the boy crawled through the railing and fell into the moat just before 4 p.m. Saturday. A Cincinnati fire department incident report says that the gorilla “was violently dragging and throwing the child” when they were called.
The child was in between the gorilla’s legs when the gorilla was shot, fire officials said.
“It’s a sad day all around,” Maynard said. “They made a tough choice and they made the right choice, because they saved that little boy’s life. It could have been very bad.”
Three gorillas were in the enclosure when the boy fell in the moat. Two were called out of the enclosure immediately, but the third — Harambe — stayed in the yard.
One woman said that she saw the gorilla drag the boy from one end of his habitat to the other.
Witnesses said they saw a woman crying and that the child was conscious during the rescue.
The child was released from Children’s Hospital Saturday night. His name has not been released.
The gorilla was not tranquilized because when the animal is agitated, Maynard said, the tranquilizer may not take effect right away. This was the first time Cincinnati Zoo officials have killed an animal in this manner, Maynard said.
The zoo also said this is the first security breach at Gorilla World since it opened in 1978.
The zoo houses 11 gorillas, according to its website. Gorilla World will be closed indefinitely, but the zoo will open as usual Sunday, the zoo said.
In March, two polar bears breached security and made it into a secure hallway, but not loose in the zoo, before they were contained.
The zoo posted a video of Harambe on Facebook in January.
FULL VIDEO: Boy falls into Gorilla World exhibit at Cincinnati Zoo
FULL VIDEO: Boy falls into Gorilla World exhibit at Cincinnati Zoo
A viewer shares video taken after a boy made his way into a gorilla exhibit and was drug around by one of the go…
These are the parents of the four-year-old boy whose 15-feet fall into the gorilla exhibit moat in Cincinnati Zoo resulted in the death of 17-year-old silverback gorilla, Harambe. Seen here for the first time is mother Michelle Gregg, 32, who has four children by father Deonne Dickerson, 36, a man who, Daily Mail Online can disclose, has a lengthy criminal history.
Criminal filings against Dickerson stretch over a decade and include burglary, firearms offences, drug trafficking, criminal trespass, disorderly conduct and kidnap.
In 2006 he was sentenced to one year behind bars for a drug trafficking conviction.
But in numerous pictures posted on Dickerson’s Facebook site in recent years he appears to have turned his life around to become the proud father of four.
Indeed, the majority of his postings to the social media site are updates of his children and his working life.
In others pictures he has uploaded his friends congratulate him and Michelle on the birth of their fourth child last January. Together: Michelle Gregg and Deonne Dickerson at home
Together: Michelle Gregg and Deonne Dickerson at home
Cleveland based Dickerson is from Atlanta, Georgia and studied at Cuyahoga Community College, Ohio and now works as a sorter at a Cincinnati industrial equipment supplier.
Gregg is currently the administrator at a Cincinnati pre-school.
She has been the subject of sharp criticism following the incident that saw zoo staff shoot dead Harambe who, according to new video footage, may have been protecting rather than threatening the child after he crawled through a barrier and fell into the gorilla’s enclosure.
Many social media commenters have criticized her and Dickerson and said they should be held accountable.
A Cincinnati police spokesman said no charges were being considered. A spokeswoman for the family said on Monday they had no plans to comment.
‘I do think there’s a degree of responsibility they have to be held to,’ said Kate Villanueva, a mother of two children from Erlanger, Kentucky, who started the ‘Justice for Harambe’ page and attended a vigil on Monday at Cincinnati Zoo for Harambe.
‘You have to be watching your children at all times.’
More than 115,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling for the mother and father to be ‘held accountable for their actions of not supervising their child’.
One Twitter user wrote: ‘So a beautiful, innocent gorilla has to die because neglectful parents can’t control their kids? Mankind sucks 🙁 #Harambe #CincinnatiZoo’
Soon after the incident, Michelle Gregg, the mother of the boy, posted a message on Facebook saying: ‘I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers today. What started off as a wonderful day turned into a scary one.
‘For those of you that have seen the news or been on social media that was my son that fell in the gorilla exhibit at the zoo. God protected my child until the authorities were able to get to him.
‘My son is safe and was able to walk away with a concussion and a few scrapes… no broken bones or internal injuries.
‘As a society we are quick to judge how a parent could take their eyes off of their child and if anyone knows me I keep a tight watch on my kids. Accidents happen but I am thankful that the right people were in the right place today.’
The family also released a statement on Sunday saying they had taken their boy home from the hospital.
It read: ‘We are so thankful to the Lord that our child is safe. He is home and doing just fine. We extend our heartfelt thanks for the quick action by the Cincinnati Zoo staff.
‘We know that this was a very difficult decision for them, and that they are grieving the loss of their gorilla. We hope that you will respect our privacy at this time.’
PICTURED: The parents-of-four whose son fell into gorilla enclosure
Lots more careless children around ,but very few endangered gorillas…I suppose we could do without that child
You would rather the gorilla be alive than a child??like seriously?
RIP Harambe
Met they had yo do what they did as in kill the Gorilla.However the parents are also partially responsible. As parents we barely let a child as young ast this out of our sight much less at the Zoo.I was reading an article re Harambe and he was named after Rita Marleys song…so there is an indirect link to Jamaica 🙂
Link to Cuba… Rita a born Cuban. Phucking out a orda!
Gorillas fi de in a mountains NOT a damn cage for human amusement…since onu want fi get radical about animal rights over that of a baby.
My thoughts on the Harambe shooting has to get placed to the side for just a minute. Why does the Daily Mail think it’s appropriate to bring up the “extensive” criminal history of the child’s father. It is in no way applicable to the situation at hand. If the child was caught in a cross fire or being held for ransom, then yes, I can understand how knowledge of his past misdeeds could be applicable, in the event of foul play but the child crawled into a Gorilla enclosure and his parent(s) were negligent because you should be attending to your child closely, particularly in large public places where all it takes is one second for ish to go left. This is just another media spin doctor who wants to paint the picture of absenteeism of black fathers and embellish the criminality of blacks. I’m so disgusted. When Caucasian shooters destroy lives, they always start the bullsh!t about “quiet boy” and “chess team” but when a man, who is clearly family oriented even by the Daily Mail’s own admission, son gets into an accident (the negligence is another discussion) MEDIA WANTS TO BRING UP DEAD AND BURIED HISTORY FOR WHAT?? KMBFT.
** I’m sure I have typos because I was angry and speedily trying to get my thoughts out***
Ex-blood-claat-actly!!
weh di man criminal record affi do wid di gorilla incident.
I tell you seh good jounalism is dead, and its now a age of reporting and including irrelevant details to “PAD” up di story dem dese days, wen dem nuh ave nuttin fi seh.
Anybody that say the gorilla shouldn’t be killed is a idiot..accident happen every day u get in ur car n got in a accident does than mean u wanted to?? People say stupid shit about the situation don’t have children so they can say anything…I have seeing were people even back there car up over there own kid bcuz the get behind the car wen the parent think the kid is inside the house even drown in there pool when they put them to bed and think the kid is sleeping..I’m so glad that they killed it before the kid got hurt…
The planet is overpopulated with humans I would rather save the gorilla, gorilla operate offa instincts, humans have sense and dem still do f**y.
Do me a favour. Help to reduce the population on earth by ingesting poison :cendol DAMN fool.
Yes Lurker that was some racist bs on the dailymail part cuz several times prior white kids fell in gorilla and leopard enclosures.They even got killed and the media protect the parents and their privacy and no one called for the parents to be arrested.
The dad wasn’t even there so how does he gets dragged into being negligient..cuz of his past wow!!
Max I’ve got good frens including a judge and a lawyer who says the gorilla shouldn’t have died so I wouldn’t call them idiots per say. I do agree though kill dem $us1million endangered gorilla a million times to safeguard careless kids’ lives.
Damn right YardieT! No deep background disclosure made on the white children falling into monkey, gorilla and tiger enclosures.
Animal lovers should go phuck dem selves! Animals should not be behind bars for amusement. If the parents were constantly restraining the child movements somebody would have reported them or mek YouTube video…one less gorilla behind bars in captivity.
:hammer :peluk :toast :2thumbup up PP
My opinion on what took place that day and what I saw in the video, I saw the Gorilla drag him by his foot and then I said the Gorilla like he was in some type of protection mode so to speak, he didn’t pounce on him violently which he could of done, he didn’t have to actually drag him at all, to me he was dragging him from one location to the next location in a violent way but as strong as the animal is he could of crushed him with one hit and he didn’t hit him at all… I think it was very violent the way the animal was killed… Parent keep a better handle on your children, what was the little boy climbing for instead of standing still and looking at the animals that’s what they came to the zoo to do… I blame the parent..
He was shot in fear of what he MAY HAVE done. Two minutes more and he may have crushed him to death. (Mind you I haven’t watched the video). I don’t even trust some breed of dogs much less a gorilla.
If the mother did something wrong she would have been charged so I agree with blaming her.
I was at the mall with my son and was looking for something in my bag. Within a few seconds he disappeared. Security found him at the other end of a mall. Parents are not robots and children are not statues. Some have no fear and most are curious.
All those who are upset about a damn gorilla getting shot I wonder if they would feel the same if it were their kids…nephews….neices…god child etc…glad the little BABY survived.
I have a question….if the gorilla had to choose between the life of a human and the life of it’s kid who you think it would choose??
Love di animal dem yes but yuh affi choose the human life first… kids wonder off all the time and get lost in places like that sometimes parents can’t control everything at every time… ppl crazy a mad ppl like dem leave dem all millions fi dog… gorilla probably think is a new toy dem gi him
Mek them gweh, the white man leave from here go all the way to Africa go kill Cecil the lion unprovoked. He face no charge and the media killed the story. How many rich white man go to Africa and hunt and kill without fear and repercussions. But because the parents black they making a stink. Does the black gorilla matter more than the black men police killing fequently why they don’t demonstrate for a worthy cost. Kill him 100 hundred time I have a toddler and i have to put leash on her bag back when we go out because she is a runner. Accident happens.
If di parents did white u wudeen hear nothing
My point exactly met is after they research and found out is black parents then this whole crusade start.