I’ve seen multiple social media posts by animal handlers, including giant ape handlers, pointing out that the shooting was unfortunate but still the right thing to do.
Especially the one by the ape handler that went step by step in pointing out that the silverback was really showing signs of extreme agitation to the shouting of the crowd and defensive hostility towards the child.
It had to be very difficult for zoo workers to kill Harambe. I feel for the people who had to do it. But I agree. They had no choice. If they had allowed the situation to continue and the child were killed or disfigured, it would have been wrong.
The parents were irresponsible. I don’t care how hard it is to watch a child. No excuse.
The only criticism I would have for zoo is that workers could have been available more quickly to calm the onlookers and clear them from the area to keep the Gorilla as calm as possible and diffuse the situation. Maybe a quicker response could have distracted other gorillas and lured him away from the child. I think the crowd screaming did not help the situation or give them time to react in case the Gorilla became more agitated, even causing unintentional harm.
They had no choice.