Harambe should have been tranquilized, not slain

What happened at the Cincinnati Zoo last weekend was stupid and senseless and tragic — and lessons should be learned.

A young boy crawled through the railings surrounding the gorilla enclosure and fell into a moat within the enclosure. Harambe, a majestic 17-year-old silverback gorilla, jumped into the water and went to the child, as the child himself and a horrified crowd screamed. It now seems clear that the gorilla was reacting in a protective way. A video shows Harambe and the child holding hands before Harambe dragged him away from the noisy, what probably seemed a threatening, crowd.

Experts say that the animal would have beaten its breast and approached the child peripherally had he meant him harm. But the zoo decided to shoot and kill the gorilla.

Zoo officials should not have done that. They misjudged the animal’s actions. Zoo and law enforcement officials could have used a tranquilizer dart, which, if employed properly, would have put the animal down quickly. The tranquilizer and someone who knew how to shoot the dart, and in the proper dosage, should have been readily available at the gorilla exhibit. The scenario is one that zoo officials should have drilled for over and over, so that reasoned, rational measures could be employed in an emergency.

The zoo director, Thane Maynard, says he would do the same thing if he had it to do over again. And for that, above all else, he should be fired.

You cannot be human and not make mistakes. But we have to recognize our mistakes, own up to them, and ask: What can we do differently now? All of us who are parents have had bad parenting days and made poor judgments. Most of us have lost a child, if only for seconds. The mom whose child wandered, crawled, and fell needs to take stock. Harambe would not be dead but for her irresponsibility. The child could have died as well. What if the bullet had missed Harambe, enraging instead of killing the animal?

There was a design flaw at the Cincinnati Zoo that made the enclosure permeable. That has to be fixed immediately. For future safety, perhaps zoos also should limit the number of children admitted with each adult.

Maynard must go, first, because the wrong thing was done and the buck stops with him. Harambe wasn’t going to hurt the boy; he should have known that. The proper tranquilizer, quickly applied, would have saved both lives.

But Maynard also refuses to consider how he could have done things differently. The very least we can ask of someone who exacts such a toll from a bad decision is that he be willing to learn.

— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette