Harambe, a 17-year-old gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo is pictured in this undated handout photo provided by Cincinnati Zoo. REUTERS/Cincinnati Zoo/Handout via Reuters
CINCINNATI (Reuters) - The director of the Cincinnati Zoo insisted on Monday that a three-foot (one-meter) barrier around the gorilla enclosure was adequate, even though a 4-year-old boy was able to climb over it and fall in, forcing zookeepers to shoot the ape dead after it grabbed him and dragged him around.
The death of the gorilla, a 17-year-old Western lowland silverback named Harambe, outraged animal lovers, about 20 of whom staged a vigil outside the zoo. More than 200,000 people signed online petitions on Change.org to protest the shooting, some demanding "Justice for Harambe" and urging police to hold the child's parents accountable.
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