Idiots.
Those signing.
There is disagreement, but a long-time observer of gorillas in the wild said the one would have killed the boy, it takes a strong hammer to smash a coconut, the expert gesticulated, but gorillas are so strong they can squeeze one in their hand and smash it open.
They didn't want to tranquillize the gorilla because the crowd was already agitating the creature, it takes time to take effect, and the shot could further agitate the animal to kill the child.
Video of the bars enclosing the area and the moat (which was pretty shallow but children do drown in shallow water sometimes) looked to be about 8 inches apart, sturdy but relatively thin bars one above the other horizontally, with no chain link or other protection. A young child could easily squeeze through in seconds.
I was upset at first because the first photos make it appear the gorilla saved the child's life by picking him up out of the moat. Maybe, but the rough handling shown in a different video released to the public, it was totally unpredictable what the gorilla would do next. It was shocking to watch that behavior.
So the zoo made the right call and the real hero in the whole thing is the person who fired the shot because they had to wait soas not to hit the child. And it is fortunate it or series of them were kill shots or THOSE could have set off the animal.
Look at the videos and then tell me the petition is a good idea. And the parents, it only takes a couple seconds sometimes for a kid to do something like that. Show me the person who never took their eyes off their child, possibly having other children in tow, and maybe they have a right to criticize. It's not as if the mother sat the kid on the top bar like happened recently.
Unless further investigation reveals serious child neglect, CPS should leave the screaming mother the hell alone.