Posted on 05/30/2016 10:20:03 AM PDT by traumer
The mother of the boy who fell into a gorilla enclosure has said that "accidents happen" on a Facebook post hitting out at critics.
The endangered animal was shot dead by zoo staff to protect the four-year-old after it began dragging him around.
Michelle Gregg has faced criticism for social media users and animal rights campaigners, who claim she should have been keeping a closer eye on her child.
Some animal lovers even suggested she should have been shot and killed instead of the gorilla Harambe.
Responding to the criticism on Facebook, she said: "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.
(Excerpt) Read more at mirror.co.uk ...
Seems a huge percentage of people would rather see the child die than the gorilla. Expand the asylum.
I’m pretty sure that was before they found out the kid was black, and not a white-privileged rugrat.
Fault lies primarily with the child’s parents, in my eyes, FWIW. But the zoo cannot be exonerated, it should not be possible for a child to get into the Gorillas’ pen, either. Once the situation arose, I do not fault the zoo for killing the unfortunate animal. And yes, the spectators’ screams did not help to calm down the poor creature.
:-). People alone are made in the image of God. Maybe the mom was ignoring her kid, but sometimes it only takes a moment of distraction for a really bad thing to happen. I’ve yet to see parents berated for letting their child wander off during a family get together and drown or get hit by a car. It happens, even to good parents.
My fourth child was one of “those” kids. From the age of one to four she would quietly wander off. She was part escape artist and part mountain goat. I can’t believe what she could do-and her curiosity was insatiable. It was only the hand of God that kept her safe during that time.
Totally the mother’s fault.
Terrible situation for the zookeeper. But he had literally seconds to decide, and he chose to do the thing that would guarantee the safety of the child - which was the right choice. A tranquilizer would have taken too long, and the gorilla might have decided any pain it felt was coming from the kid.
Totally the mother’s fault.
Yep... but the media is helping people draw the wrong conclusion because they suddenly dropped the part about the ape dragging the kid around ... perhaps to sensationalize and benefit themselves at the cost of creating more outrage against the zoo.
The criticism is for not doing their job. They must have some way to tranquilize or otherwise control animals, otherwise they couldn’t give them veterinary care. Why they didn’t bother with any of THOSE is just disgusting. They could have protected both, they poorly decided it was an either or situation, they should all feel shame, and most of them should be fired.
Accidents happen; bad parenting happens; poor child discipline happens; the tolerance of child rebellion and mischief happens.
The article describes him as a “gentle giant”. Hmmm...
Have you ever tried to take something away from a gorilla?
While it's difficult to tell from the photos in the article, I've seen reports elsewhere that the boy was black rather than white.
Pretty sure he's black:
I guess GLM (Gorilla Lives Matter) more than BLM (Black Lives Matter).
The little man just looks like a handful in the photo.
“Some are saying the zoo is racist because the were protecting a white boy against a bla k gorilla.”
They were saying that. . . until it was admitted that the little boy is black. Oops!
It’s certainly possible the mom was blameless. We may never have enough facts to know that for certain. As the father of twin toddlers I can say that it’s virtually impossible to keep perfect watch on them all the time.
The truth has been pointed out to you, but you apparently are refusing it. Oh well.
not these days.seems idiots happen all to often
My wife's cousin had an ear ripped off by a lion under similar circumstances (about 55 years ago), except it was his dad who went into the cage and punched the lion and got the kid back.
But . . . but . . . our betters on the Left have told us repeatedly that gorillas are so much more intelligent, insightful, and compassionate than we lousy humans. They probably even support Democrats.
How can such a violent act against the pinnacle of evolution be justified?
Watching the video, it looks like the gorilla was panicked by the yelling. It looks violent because the gorilla moves so quickly when it dragged the boy thru the water, but its reaction was more panic than anything. Unfortunately, with a precarious situation like this, I can't fault the zoo for what it did.
I noticed all the screaming, too, and thought that it would have been a good thing to get them to quiet down, given the situation.
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