US zoo kills gorilla after boy falls into enclosure

Cincinnati Zoo officials shot and killed Harambe, a 17-year-old gorilla, after the animal picked up and dragged a three-year-old boy that fell into his enclosure on Saturday. SCREENGRAB FROM CINCINNATI ZOO FACEBOOK PAGE

WASHINGTON, United States — Workers at the Cincinnati Zoo in the US state of Ohio shot and killed a gorilla on Saturday after a three-year-old boy fell into its enclosure, officials said.

The boy crawled through a barrier into the enclosure and fell into a moat around 4 pm (1600 GMT), zoo director Thane Maynard told reporters.

The gorilla, a 17-year-old male named Harambe weighing more than 400 pounds (180 kilograms), “went down and got him,” he said.

Witnesses said the gorilla dragged the screaming boy around the habitat, local media reported.

The zoo’s dangerous animal response team shot and killed the gorilla around 10 minutes after the boy first entered it.

He was hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening, media quoted the police as saying.

The zoo’s response team decided to shoot the gorilla rather than tranquilize him because a tranquilizer would not have taken effect immediately, Maynard said.

“It seemed by our own dangerous animals response team to be a life-threatening situation,” he said. “They saved that little boy’s life.”

The zoo houses 11 gorillas, according to its website.

“We’ve never had a situation like this,” Maynard said.