100,000 sign petition after parent says "accidents happen"

Mother 'could face charges' in gorilla shooting as she says: 'Accidents happen'

Nick Allen, washington
30 MAY 2016 • 7:46PM
Pressure mounted for a mother to face criminal charges after her four-year-old son climbed into a gorilla's enclosure, causing the animal to be shot dead by zookeepers.

The youngster, thought to be called Isaiah, was rescued unharmed after sharpshooters gunned down Harambe, a 17-year-old western lowland gorilla, at Cincinnati Zoo.

Video emerged that appeared to show the gorilla holding the boy's hand after he fell in to the enclosure.

Harambe and the boy

The animal then appeared to put the child in a corner and stand guard in front of him.


More than 100,000 people signed a petition calling for the mother to be "investigated for negligence" and "held accountable for her actions".

Michelle Gregg, a woman claiming to be the boy's mother, defended herself on social media.

She said: "As a society we are quick to judge how a parent could take their eyes off of their child. If anyone knows me, I keep a tight watch on my kids.

"Accidents happen but I am thankful that the right people were in the right place today.

"What started off as a wonderful day turned into a scary one. God protected my child."

She said her son had suffered "a concussion and a few scrapes".

But the petition said: "This beautiful gorilla lost his life because the boy's parents did not keep a closer watch on the child. The situation was caused by parental negligence."

Police in Cincinnati, Ohio said the mother was not currently facing charges but prosecutors could later decide to bring them. Witnesses described seeing the mother with several young children. They heard the boy repeatedly saying he wanted to play with the gorillas.

The boy then climbed through a barrier at the Gorilla World exhibit and fell 12ft into a shallow moat.

Two female gorillas responded to calls from zoo staff to leave the area but Harambe went to the boy and grabbed him.

On a disturbing video taken by tourist Kim O'Connor the boy's mother could be heard screaming "Mommy loves you! Mommy's right here. Isaiah be calm" as the 450-pound gorilla loomed over her son.

The boy sat still in the water as the animal touched his hand and back, at one point appearing to help him stand and pulling up his trousers.

Several witnesses said they believed the gorilla was trying to protect the boy.

As onlookers began screaming Harambe grabbed the boy by the leg and ran away.

The ordeal went on for around 10 minutes before Harambe was shot.

Thane Maynard, the zoo's director, said a tranquiliser dart would not have taken effect immediately, leaving the boy in danger. He added: "It was a a tough choice."

Harambe had arrived last year from a zoo in Texas.

Jerry Stones, the zookeeper who raised him from a baby in Texas, said he was "heartbrokern".

Mr Stones added: "He was very intelligent. Very, very intelligent."

Bloody disgraceful that they shot him. He wasn't going to eat the kid, was he?!

Bloody disgraceful that they shot him. He wasn't going to eat the kid, was he?!

Very easy to say when it's not your four year old son in there. Of course he wouldn't have eaten the child but he very obviously could have caused him very serious injury or death. Would you take a chance with a little boy's life? It sad that such an amazing creature lost its life.
I don't know enough about it if I'm honest but the first thing I would want to know is how on earth was it possible for a small child to get anywhere near falling in.
As for the petition, as ever you have people signing something when they have no idea what the real cause of the incident was.

f*cking Zoos caging animals is barbaric, shoot the useless mother rather than the Gorilla

In my opinion the zoo are the ones at fault here, how can anyone get into the enclosure is unbelievable.
The Gorilla had to be shot, who knows what he would have done, they are huge strong animals, even if he didn't mean to hurt the child he still could have.

As for the parent well no body knows, it could be that she is a bad parent it could just be one of those thing, a split second she looked away, you would think he would be pretty safe in a zoo built for children to look at these animals. I don't think anyone would assume that your child would end up inside with the gorilla.

still very sad though

Haha. Why do people always think it's always someone else's fault when parents mess up? People moan about nanny states but when things go tits up everyone what's the responsibility to fall to others.
Eg. The mcann's for one they treated as innocent victims yet the left 3 children alone in a room while they got drunk with friends. Probably resulting In The death of maddy mcann. There's was probably no abduction a cover up to blame someone else.

Hillsborough another one even if it is 50/50 with authorities to blame. No ticketless fans there that day no horrendous disaster. We to quick to blame society and take no responsibility ourselves.

the zoo made the right call, i dont think theres any question of that, the blame lies with the parents and, as luke said above, it shouldnt be easy for a 4 year old to get in there in the first place, so the zoo need to take some responsibility for that themselves.

Haha. Why do people always think it's always someone else's fault when parents mess up? People moan about nanny states but when things go tits up everyone what's the responsibility to fall to others.
Eg. The mcann's for one they treated as innocent victims yet the left 3 children alone in a room while they got drunk with friends. Probably resulting In The death of maddy mcann. There's was probably no abduction a cover up to blame someone else.

Hillsborough another one even if it is 50/50 with authorities to blame. No ticketless fans there that day no horrendous disaster. We to quick to blame society and take no responsibility ourselves.

Why do you keep referring back to Hillsborough as being the fans fault? the away end was not over populated for fucks sake, the middle pen's were!! the side pens weren't - if you going to comment gets the facts - you sound like the Sun newspaper until they got the facts

Haha. Why do people always think it's always someone else's fault when parents mess up? People moan about nanny states but when things go tits up everyone what's the responsibility to fall to others.
Eg. The mcann's for one they treated as innocent victims yet the left 3 children alone in a room while they got drunk with friends. Probably resulting In The death of maddy mcann. There's was probably no abduction a cover up to blame someone else.

Hillsborough another one even if it is 50/50 with authorities to blame. No ticketless fans there that day no horrendous disaster. We to quick to blame society and take no responsibility ourselves.

Why do you keep referring back to Hillsborough as being the fans fault? the away end was not over populated for fucks sake, the middle pen's were!! the side pens weren't - if you going to comment gets the facts - you sound like the Sun newspaper until they got the facts

to highlight people want to be left to they own devices but when it goes wrong they want to blame others ie police.
we hate bubble trips yeah but police will agrue they doing it for safety of the public which we all say its unfair its a free world not a police state. yet when we let free and cause disaters we all there going why didn't the police do something. to many people want it every each way, and that way is to take no responsibility for they own actions.

to sum up that woman was mostly to blame for the kid and partly the zoo as there should be no way a 4 year old should be able to gain access. but that said responseable parent wouldn't allow a 4 year old to get in to that situation.

the mcanns are totally to blame any which way even if maddy was abducted which is highly unlikely. she was a victim of having terrible parents.

Hillsborough is about 50-50 blame disaster doesn't happen with out massive contributing factors on both sides.

I know its hard to be honest about things at times but really to progress as a society we have to learn from our mistakes and not blame blame everyone but ourselves.

It's typical of society nowadays that so many are quick to pass judgement on a situation they know very little about. It's so easy to sign a petition and have an ill informed rant on Facebook without knowing the facts. Everyone is suddenly an expert on primates and zoology.
Oh and by the way it has emerged that the boy's father was present too but I've heard no one castigating his parenting skills from the other side of thier keyboard.

It's typical of society nowadays that so many are quick to pass judgement on a situation they know very little about. It's so easy to sign a petition and have an ill informed rant on Facebook without knowing the facts. Everyone is suddenly an expert on primates and zoology.
Oh and by the way it has emerged that the boy's father was present too but I've heard no one castigating his parenting skills from the other side of thier keyboard.

"Oh and by the way it has emerged that the boy's father was present too but I've heard no one castigating his parenting skills from the other side of thier keyboard."

No they haven't have they? Are you doing so? Because if you are,it would deem the rest of your post highly hypocritical wouldn't it!

[quote]
Re: 100,000 sign petition after parent says "accidents happe
Postby 2blue2handle » Tue May 31, 2016 1:00 pm

In my opinion the zoo are the ones at fault here, how can anyone get into the enclosure is unbelievable.
The Gorilla had to be shot, who knows what he would have done, they are huge strong animals, even if he didn't mean to hurt the child he still could have.

As for the parent well no body knows, it could be that she is a bad parent it could just be one of those thing, a split second she looked away, you would think he would be pretty safe in a zoo built for children to look at these animals. I don't think anyone would assume that your child would end up inside with the gorilla.

still very sad though
My thoughts on the re-brandin/quote]

I agree 100%. Anyone who saw the video will see that the gorilla was dragging the boy around like a toy doll. He would have ended up hurt in the end. To be honest, the zoo should do more to ensure that the enclosures are better protected. Yes accidents happen but they can also be prevented. Did care should have been taken by all sides.

It's typical of society nowadays that so many are quick to pass judgement on a situation they know very little about. It's so easy to sign a petition and have an ill informed rant on Facebook without knowing the facts. Everyone is suddenly an expert on primates and zoology.
Oh and by the way it has emerged that the boy's father was present too but I've heard no one castigating his parenting skills from the other side of thier keyboard.

"Oh and by the way it has emerged that the boy's father was present too but I've heard no one castigating his parenting skills from the other side of thier keyboard."

No they haven't have they? Are you doing so? Because if you are,it would deem the rest of your post highly hypocritical wouldn't it!

No I'm not. I have no idea whether the child's parents are responsible for what happened. However over 100,000 have already decided that the mother of the boy is a bad parent.

It's typical of society nowadays that so many are quick to pass judgement on a situation they know very little about. It's so easy to sign a petition and have an ill informed rant on Facebook without knowing the facts. Everyone is suddenly an expert on primates and zoology.
Oh and by the way it has emerged that the boy's father was present too but I've heard no one castigating his parenting skills from the other side of thier keyboard.

"Oh and by the way it has emerged that the boy's father was present too but I've heard no one castigating his parenting skills from the other side of thier keyboard."

No they haven't have they? Are you doing so? Because if you are,it would deem the rest of your post highly hypocritical wouldn't it!

No I'm not. I have no idea whether the child's parents are responsible for what happened. However over 100,000 have already decided that the mother of the boy is a bad parent.

Good man. My own personal opinion of course is that a magnificent animal (who should not be 'caged' in the first place of course) has been shot dead due to human negligence wherever the blame may lie. If these species are endangered because of us and now we want to save them, then we have a duty to provide them with a safe natural habitat, and not a zoo, where they will live a miserable existence. And that to me is the saddest thing in all this. A beautiful animal shot dead because of a situation to provide people with entertainment at their expense went badly wrong.

It's typical of society nowadays that so many are quick to pass judgement on a situation they know very little about. It's so easy to sign a petition and have an ill informed rant on Facebook without knowing the facts. Everyone is suddenly an expert on primates and zoology.
Oh and by the way it has emerged that the boy's father was present too but I've heard no one castigating his parenting skills from the other side of thier keyboard.

"Oh and by the way it has emerged that the boy's father was present too but I've heard no one castigating his parenting skills from the other side of thier keyboard."

No they haven't have they? Are you doing so? Because if you are,it would deem the rest of your post highly hypocritical wouldn't it!

No I'm not. I have no idea whether the child's parents are responsible for what happened. However over 100,000 have already decided that the mother of the boy is a bad parent.

Good man. My own personal opinion of course is that a magnificent animal (who should not be 'caged' in the first place of course) has been shot dead due to human negligence wherever the blame may lie. If these species are endangered because of us and now we want to save them, then we have a duty to provide them with a safe natural habitat, and not a zoo, where they will live a miserable existence. And that to me is the saddest thing in all this. A beautiful animal shot dead because of a situation to provide people with entertainment at their expense went badly wrong.

Totally agree with you 64. It's a catch 22 I hate zoos but I so think they have the animals interests at heart. But to get money for funding they have to charge for people to view these animals to help them.

Bloody disgraceful that they shot him. He wasn't going to eat the kid, was he?!

Not unless he was wrapped in oloroso mate, they're vegetarian.

f*cking Zoos caging animals is barbaric, shoot the useless mother rather than the Gorilla

Shoot father and mate the gorilla with the maw. Win win.

Very sad that the gorilla was shot, I do hate Hearing about occasions when an animal comes to some harm etc etc. It could have been far worse though if the boy had been killed or badly injured and that would have also led to the gorilla being shot perhaps? Not quite sure how the boy was able to gain access into the enclosure in the first place? Was it that easy for him to climb in? I don't know haven't seen it but from my opinion the parents should be held responsible but that said, everyone makes mistakes and everyone's human, some mistakes people pay the highest price for and no harm came to the boy so if I was the mother I would be so grateful that no harm came to the boy and take whatever charges are coming to me. But that's just my opinion.

In my opinion the zoo are the ones at fault here, how can anyone get into the enclosure is unbelievable.
The Gorilla had to be shot, who knows what he would have done, they are huge strong animals, even if he didn't mean to hurt the child he still could have.

As for the parent well no body knows, it could be that she is a bad parent it could just be one of those thing, a split second she looked away, you would think he would be pretty safe in a zoo built for children to look at these animals. I don't think anyone would assume that your child would end up inside with the gorilla.

still very sad though

The most sensible post I have seen on the subject to date

She should be prosecuted - if you are not prepared to mind your children properly then don't have any in the first place, she is responsible for the death.

She should be prosecuted - if you are not prepared to mind your children properly then don't have any in the first place, she is responsible for the death.

Do you think that they should find out whether the mother (and father) are responsible for what happened first or just prosecute her anyway?

I've got three young kids and I like to think I'm a loving and very responsible father, however I would be a liar if I said I had never taken my eyes off them.


"He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.”

She should be prosecuted - if you are not prepared to mind your children properly then don't have any in the first place, she is responsible for the death.

Do you think that they should find out whether the mother (and father) are responsible for what happened first or just prosecute her anyway?

I've got three young kids and I like to think I'm a loving and very responsible father, however I would be a liar if I said I had never taken my eyes off them.


"He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.”

They know what happened - she wasn't watching her kid and they climbed into the gorilla pit! Yes she should do down for it.