Should've the gorilla been shot?

[mikey3000]

We all saw the video on the news lately, what say you? Could've the situation been handled differently?

 

[cityboy-stl]

To save the boy I don't know what else could have been done.

 

[FPNY]

To save the boy I don't know what else could have been done.

can't second guess the person who has to make the decision. no monday morning quarter backing and no post mortems. I wonder about the question about zoos in major cities tho.....

 

[eastofeden]

Shoot the mother..save the gorilla...

 

[Cormac135]

Sad but the right choice was made.

I'd have shot the kid.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I love animals and do not find the concept of zoos offensive as many are beginning to say.

And the danger to the boy was imminent. The gorilla was toying with him, but could have killed him accidentally in a heartbeat. The boy was being moved brusquely and roughly. The decision was right, and tragic.

I wouldn't think twice if it came down to saving a human, regardless of being a child.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Dudes, the way the gorilla was tossing that boy around I was afraid the kid would suffer dislocated arms, a broken neck or maybe even drown.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Six times stronger than a man.

The lady filming the incident stated that the gorilla was much more aggressive after he got the boy to the top of the habitat and out of the moat. The boy tried to escape but the gorilla began confining him and acting more menacing.

Of course the parents are somewhat at fault, but that is a moot point. Their negligence didn't forfeit the life of the child when it could yet be saved.

 

[sixthson]

Of course the parents are somewhat at fault, but that is a moot point. Their negligence didn't forfeit the life of the child when it could yet be saved.

The little boy did what little boys do, he got into mischief by venturing where an adult would know he shouldn't go. That adult was his parent. It sounds like she was not watching carefully, but the child shouldn't have to forfeit his life because of it. It's too bad the gorilla had to be sacrificed, but the experts say silver backed gorilla are violent and unpredictable. The zoo did the only thing they could do. I'm sure the children haters would have preferred that the gorilla pull the little boy limb from limb.

 

[zoltanspawn]

Gorillas and countless other species have given up their lives daily at our expense. We don't just kill individual animals, but entire species.

If one of us dies--ONE--it's hardly justice for the genocide we inflict daily.

The least we can do is keep our captives safe from us by maintaining real barriers between us and them.

I'm disgusted by the idea that the life of a critically endangered species is taken so lightly. There are billions of us, destroying ecosystems and perpetrating a global mass extinction. What narcissists we are. How violent and unpredictable we are.

We are the danger and the menace.

The gorilla should have been tranquilized. The business of insurance led to its death.

But more importantly, zoos are merely shitty forms of entertainment. They do a crap job of conservation and they do a crap job of representing the natural world. They're dangerous to animals. It's time to entirely reformulate the kind of conservation they do.

 

[Silverfuck]

Yes no doubt about it.

 

[Alnitak]

There was no other way to guarantee the safety of the child.

 

[eastofeden]

Gorillas and countless other species have given up their lives daily at our expense. We don't just kill individual animals, but entire species.

If one of us dies--ONE--it's hardly justice for the genocide we inflict daily.

The least we can do is keep our captives safe from us by maintaining real barriers between us and them.

I'm disgusted by the idea that the life of a critically endangered species is taken so lightly. There are billions of us, destroying ecosystems and perpetrating a global mass extinction. What narcissists we are. How violent and unpredictable we are.

We are the danger and the menace.

The gorilla should have been tranquilized. The business of insurance led to its death.

But more importantly, zoos are merely shitty forms of entertainment. They do a crap job of conservation and they do a crap job of representing the natural world. They're dangerous to animals. It's time to entirely reformulate the kind of conservation they do.

PERFECTLY STATED! ITA...except I also blame the mother.....

 

[NotHardUp1]

To value the life of the child is not tantamount to taking the gorilla's life lightly.

As wildlife experts have commented, it was really too risky to the boy to try the tranquilizing route. Any form of attack on the gorilla (and a dart is one) would have most likely provoked some sort of reaction of violence.

And it isn't a question of justice, but of mercy for a human. It is an ancient ethos.

Zoos do a lot more than entertain. They educate in a real, in-person manner that cannot be duplicated by merely watching videos of animals in the wild. They also teach in a sad way the meaning of captivity and what being wild is really all about.

This was a horrible accident, and obviously preventable, but there is no cheering for a boy to die as payment of man's abuse of nature. That's flawed logic, and punitive.

 

[zoltanspawn]

I'm sure the children haters would have preferred that the gorilla pull the little boy limb from limb.

Dan, I think this is an opportunity for you to re-think the position of your adversaries on the issue of human reproduction.

I know your love for your kids makes it heartfelt.

But those of us who you might think of as "children haters" mostly don't hate children.

As anti-natalists, we think it's preferable not to come into existence.

As child-free, we enjoy the pleasures of a life without dependents.

As environmentalists, we recognize that the single most damaging act a human can do is make more of us.

It's a cartoon, a stereotype, a bias, to render us all as "children haters."

I think you would be pleasantly surprised to see me, e.g., interact with kids. Like most of us, we don't object to kids, but to breeding.

 

[sixthson]

If there had been any other way, the zoo would have taken it. Afterall, the loss to them and the future offspring this gorilla would have produced is major. I bet it was the most difficult decision the zoo officials will make in their lives.

 

[TickTockMan]

I don't think it is fair to second guess those that had to make the choice.


I do blame the zoo for not having something to keep kids out.

 

[zoltanspawn]

Zoos do a lot more than entertain. They educate in a real, in-person manner that cannot be duplicated by merely watching videos of animals in the wild. They also teach in a sad way the meaning of captivity and what being wild is really all about..

Every aspect of education done in zoos can be done by video. Maybe not "petting."

When people interact with the natural world, it should be done in exactly the opposite manner; humans should be in protected spaces in a vast natural landscape. The animals should be wild.

The idea that zoos are somehow justified in their existence by teaching the "sad nature of captivity" should be repugnant to all compassionate beings. Absolutely disgusting.

 

[nycguydowntown]

maybe the gorilla should have been put down but the guardian of the child should be charged with endangering a child.