Cincinnati Zoo Gorilla incident.

[Gman]

they say a chimp is 3 times stronger than a man. They say a gorilla is at least 6 times stronger than a man. We have seen from news stories that a chimp can literally tear a man apart. This gorilla could have on purpose or by accident torn the kids limb off. It was the right move.

Jack Hanna, of TV Fame, has a long involvement with this particular zoo. He's been a good ambassador on the TV over this incident. He stated that 6 men can't physically subdue an adult chimpanzee. A 400 lb. gorilla is a whole other story. He also said that these gorillas are not going extinct, and this was a human being in danger. The gorilla was acting erratically, and a tranquilizer dart would take 5-10 minutes to take effect. The gorilla could have reacted and attacked the child just reacting to the darting.

It's sad that it happened this way, but the correct action was taken.

[SideShow Bob]

I was about to post something similar. Despite the gorrilla being "gentle", they are used to handling chimps much stronger than a grown man. I've seen gorillas handling their chimps, and it looks really rough, but it's just business as usual for them.

Umm, gorillas and chimpanzees are two separate species....... Baby gorillas are called infants.

[Irving]

I'll have to watch the video, because my immediate question was how the kid could be in there for 10 minutes without a parent trying to save the kid. I don't know about you guys, but if I ever found myself in the situation where my kid got into a cage of an animal, you know I'd be right in there after her. I could care less if I get beat to death in front of a crowd if it buys my kid time.

[Irving]

While we're being honest, I have what is probably an unhealthy low level of fear of animals. Cautious, jumpy? You bet. But I don't know if I've ever been afraid of an animal. Not unreasonably anyway. I'd probably go in after someone else's kid too.

[hurley842002]

Umm, gorillas and chimpanzees are two separate species....... Baby gorillas are called infants.

Yeah I realized the error of my post shortly after hitting reply, unfortunately I was too busy over in the MJ thread to go back and fix it. I'll just leave it be and lead folks to believe I've smoked too much MJ.....

[00tec]

how may 9mm or 45auto hollow points does it take to get to the center of a gorilla?

Is it wearing a Carhartt jacket?

[Irving]

to be honest, You and I would be well armed and so the fear level would be a little less. But, yeah, I would be in there to get my kids immediately.


how may 9mm or 45auto hollow points does it take to get to the center of a gorilla?

I once saw you draw on a rabbit that ran out from under a bush, so you'd probably shoot the owl before he could tell you.

[Aloha_Shooter]

The few seconds of footage I saw where the gorilla was swinging the kid through the water convinced me what the zoo did was necessary if regrettable. Intellectually, I know we don't have enough silverbacks and have way too many stupid people but when you have to make a quick decision and it's a human being or an animal, you've got to save the kid. Now if it had been Hillary Clinton falling in the moat ...

[Irving]

for the rest of you, this was because Irv was turning over everything TRYING TO FIND RATTLESNAKES. I was maybe a little jumpy, but it was his fault.


you dont try to find rattlesnakes, they find you.

Well...

While we're being honest, I have what is probably an unhealthy low level of fear of animals. Cautious, jumpy? You bet. But I don't know if I've ever been afraid of an animal. Not unreasonably anyway. I'd probably go in after someone else's kid too.

[flogger]

Zoos do tend to keep firepower on hand. When I worked for a local range, we often had teams (we called them Zoo Swat) from Denver Zoo come out and do rifle and shotgun practice. I believe the rifle they had most frequently was a 700 in .243 with iron sights, and a 12 gauge. They were out semi frequently, and a few of them were reasonably competent marksmen.

That's what I really wanted to know about. Thanks for the reply Batt!

I'm thinking any kind of live wildlife exhibit operation, like a public zoo, has a plan, arms and trained personnel. It's probably a liability issue.

Sad thing for a lot of kids to witness, the silverback lost the most.

Bad situation all around,...except for the lawyers.