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Social Media Reacts To Endangered Gorilla Shot Dead After Boy Falls Into Zoo Exhibit

The debate on whether an endangered gorilla should have been shot and killed after a 4-year-old boy crawled into its enclosure has been receiving some great heat.

According to CNN, the Cincinnati zoo is being criticized after they made the decision to shoot Harambe, a 400-pound Western lowland gorilla who just turned 17 on Friday. Witnesses say the young boy had went under the rail and through its wires before falling 10-12 ft over the moat wall.

At first Cincinnati fire officials claimed that “a gorilla who was violently dragging and throwing the child.”

While one video taken by onlooker, Amber Soler may support the claim of the 4-year-old being dragged around other videos of the incident taken by zoo visitors seem to show that the gorilla may have been trying to protect him. It was reported that there were two other female gorillas in the exhibit as well.

The decision to shoot the gorilla instead of using a tranquilizer came as zoo officials agreed that using a tranquilizer may take to long before the effects kick in.

“You don’t hit him and he falls over,” Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard said in a press conference. “It takes a few minutes.”

Thane also stated that the boy didn’t seem to be in immediate danger but did not want to take the risk of seeing what may have happened. “The child was not under attack but all sorts of things could happen,” Thane said. “He certainly was at risk.”

Zoo officials are saddened by the loss of Harambe seeing that he is a critically endangered species that can only be found in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea. The zoo was hopeful that he may be able to reproduce to help its population.

Social media also seems to be split between wether or not the decision to kill the teenaged gorilla was the right choice