Police officers are deciding whether to charge the parents of a boy who fell into a gorilla’s zoo enclosure with child neglect.Animal lovers are outraged after the endangered animal had to be shot dead by zoo staff to protect the youngster.More than 70,000 petitioners have signed up to a campaign on Change.org calling for the parents to be investigated after the child fell up to 12 feet into the enclosure.
And fury at Cincinnati Zoo continues to mount as animal lovers demand an explanation as to why the 17-year-old gorilla named Herambe was not tranquilised.Eyewitnesses have even claimed that the animal was NOT hurting the child… and was in fact trying to protect it but was panicked by the screams of onlookers.
The petition reads: “This beautiful gorilla lost his life because the boy’s parents did not keep a closer watch on the child. We the undersigned believe that the child would not have been able to enter the enclosure under proper parental supervision.
Witnesses claim that they heard the child state that he wished to go into the enclosure and was actively trying to breach the barriers. “This should have prompted the parents to immediately remove the child from the vicinity. It is believed that the situation was caused by parental negligence and the zoo is not responsible for the child’s injuries and possible trauma.
Social media users have also slammed the zoo for killing the gorilla, despite claims by zoo bosses that the child was in “a life-threatening situation”.