Prosecutor Decides What to Do About Mom in Gorilla Incident
Authorities have decided not to file charges against the parents of the boy who fell into the gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Animal rights supporters have been outraged that zoo officials chose to shoot the gorilla to save the boy. Some of them have blamed the boy's mother.
But Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters says the mom did nothing wrong.
"She was being attentive to her children, by all witness accounts, and the 3-year-old just scampered off," Deters said. "If anyone doesn't believe a 3-year-old can scamper off very quickly, they've never had kids."
The prosecutor is even defending the decision by zoo officials to kill the gorilla. Deters says while it was a "beautiful animal," it's value does not supersede a human life.
"It's still an animal. It does not equate human life, and they felt that this boy's life was in jeopardy, and they made the painful choice to do what they did," he said.
The zoo's actions will be reviewed separately by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. An animal protection group has urged that the zoo be fined.
Meanwhile, the zoo says its 10 remaining gorillas are doing well. Two are 20-year-old females that were grouped with Harambe. The others are a family group of eight, led by a silverback named Jomo.
