The sad part here is that if the crowd hadn't been shouting and screaming and making so much noise, the gorilla most likely wouldn't have freaked out.

One of many reasons why animals should not live their life in cages. Few weeks ago a lion has been shot because an idiot wanted to die..

Faced with that situation maybe I would've made the same decision.. but think about this.. you get a creature out of his natural habitat, put him in captivity for human entertainment and then kill him because he seemed dangerous...who is dangerous? us; the human beings...

It is so easy to judge from 'out in the ether.' Whether he was trying to protect the boy, or not, he was dragging the child through the water like a rag doll. To me, there is little question that the child was in danger. It is a horrible tragedy that the gorilla was put down, but the zoo staff had to make an immediate decision. For those of you who are shaming the mother, shame on you. Children are curious and act on their curiosity in the blink of an eye. No one can blame a parent more than they blame themselves when a horrible accident happens.

I've seen this video 100 times and whether or not at one point the gorilla was holding hands with the boy is completely irrelevant. He was a male gorilla dragging the boy back and forth in the enclosure. The boy sustained injuries from this alone. The Cincinnati Zoo is a first -class facility and nothing like this has ever happened before. This was just a tragic accident. Plain and simple. No one was at fault. No one should be to blame. No one made the wrong decision.

where were those protesters when he was "just" locked up 4 life, without parole

That hand-holding moment was between 2 instances of the gorilla dragging the child by the leg through the water like a rag doll. The mother is an incompetent boob and caused the whole scenario to transpire due to her negligence. Direct your frustration at her, not the protocols in place to keep humans safe in such an environment. The dart would have been less safe, as the tranquilizer takes time to take effect. Time is nothing to play with in this case, people.

It is sad that Harambe had to be shot by the zoo officials. We as who have watched the video can make many conclusions but we can never conclusively say what goes on in the mind of Harambe. As much as I would have appreciated that the zoo had used tranqullizer rather than to shoot him, I guess drastic situations need drastic action....RIP Harambe.

EVERYONE went bananas except the gorilla. Ban zoos.

This FB post share from a zookeeper may help put things in perspective why they didn't use any tranquilizers or other distraction methods. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1203379103029809&set=a.136952966339100.18704.100000731932790&type=3&theater It is just unfortunate that this happened and I believe no one (zookeepers and the boy's parents) wanted this. I believe that the zookeepers had considered all options before deciding to end the animal's life to save the boy. In another perspective, what happened if it's the other way round and the boy died instead? Are we to say that the parent's deserved it because they didn't look after their boy properly? Are we to blame the zookeepers for not trying to save the boy while trying to keep the life of a gorilla? No one likes to pull the trigger to end a life (ok maybe except some psychopaths), but I think that there is a lesson to be learned here; for the zoo to improved on the security and for parents to be more vigilant.

No one has the right to judge the mother. If it was your child, you would want the safest option for your baby. It's a tragic situation.

what people don't understand about gorillas is that they grab onto things to intimidate people. do your research before thinking differently

why dont they drug harambe? mom you responsible for all that.

Until zoo have to exist should have stronger and more secure protection. I mean electric fence? Glass? Taller walls? Yes to keep any kind of human activity "surely" away from the cages! Then no excuses! If someone "gets in" someone pay for. In this particular case the guardians have taken the right decision. Situation was just like a russian roulette with a gun, now "YOU" take the stand and make your decision! Would anyone have took the risk not to shoot? I would personally have done same thing guardians did. On the other hand I hope parents get a heavy ticket! I won't be surprised if the zoo ask for damage of such a great loss... how much really cost the life of Harambe? Can really be excused, a parent from this kind of distraction? A parent said is a continuous work to keep an eye on kids; I want to ask him/her was really worth this lightness? Moral to me is both sides are responsible for what happened! That means only one thing: We, humans, did it!

If it was your kid you would want them to use a gun

I dont think its right to blame the parents. What kind of parents in their right mind would calmly watch their child shaking hands with a gorilla?

Animals don't know what holding hands is! The kid was in danger.. Live with it!

Watch the entire video, you ignorants.

The gorilla look like he was trying to see a way to help the child back up so he was protecting the kid

Sad ;-(

Why can't put him to sleep?

Harambee literally means "all pull together" in Swahili, and is also the official motto of Kenya and appears on its coat of arms.The railway linesmen of Indian origin carrying huge loads of iron rails and sleeper blocks would chant "har, har ambee!" (praise praise to Ambee mother) when working.

Im crying my eyes out.... ;"(

I wonder how many children are killed by Gorillas each year. That fool Walsh is trying to justify the killing of the Gorilla by linking his death to abortions performed by humans. He is a dumb f**k!