A gorilla was shot dead at Cincinnati Zoo yesterday after a three-year-old boy fell into the gorilla exhibit moat.
It’s thought that Harambe, a 17-year-old old gorilla weighing 400 pounds, grabbed and dragged the boy around the enclosure for ten minutes.
CNN reports that the child was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after the gorilla was shot dead with a rifle.
Speaking at a press briefing, footage of which can be viewed below, Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard said that while the child wasn’t under attack, “he certainly was at risk”.
Maynard said that the boy entered the enclosure “under the rail, through wires and over the moat wall”.
According to reports, two female gorillas were called out successfully but the male went over to the moat wall and picked the child up.
Maynard also said that zoo officials decided against tranquilising Harambe because this would have taken longer to work, leaving the little boy in danger.
Image via Cincinnati Zoo
