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.
The zoo staff had a split second to make a decision and they made the right one. Jack Hannah was on several morning shows and backed them up. He has a house about 3 miles from where the gorilla came from and said the animal was showing indications of elevated alarm. The pain from being darted would have had a high probability of setting him off and would have taken 5 or 10 minutes to affect him because they’re administered intra-muscularly. Even administered intravenously a dose high enough to stop him instantly would have likely killed him. I just hope it was a big bullet to the brain so he never knew what hit him. And it was a male gorilla.
They said if they tranquilized the animal, it would of taken 10 min for it to take effect; and sometimes, a drugged animal acts more violent until it kicks in.
That is why they chose to kill vs. sedate