But that's the problem. The mother WAS there to avoid it, and she didn't. And the kid had to go through a lot to get in there (if the other commenst are correct), so he was missing for a while and the mom didn't realize until he was at the gorillla pit.

I think that shooting the gorilla was too extreme. It should've been the last case scenario, not the first idea.

Need to have signs that the zoo is not responsible if an idiot "falls" (jumps, climbs, etc) into the exhibit for any injury or harm. They are basically animal sanctuaries, it's disgusting that we're prioritizing obviously retarded people over a gorilla minding its own business.

They do the same thing at theme parks. If an idiot climbs a fence and gets clipped by a coaster, too bad. Should be the same at the zoo.

Mom should have her tubes tied, clearly unfit.

OK,fair enough.

Jesus, I would have sleeper hold this woman if she was my wife(joke), I never let my daughter out of sight when we go out, good that the boy was safe, but at a cost of a pointless death, life is just cruel.

It's surprising to see the comments made about what happened

They thought about using a tranquilzer gun; however, they stated that it would take a couple of minutes for it to take effect.  In that time period, the gorilla would get angry and could harm the kid.  That is why the non-lethal route was not taken.

Dead gorilla is better than a dead kid ten times out of ten.

And I wont pass judgement on the mother, she probably could have done a better job keeping an eye on the kid, but as someone with little kids I know how easy it is to lose sight in public, and it may have only taken a couple seconds.

Instead of directing anger at a little kid and a mother, how about the zoo? Why is a 4 year old able to get into this I enclosure?

Agreed everyday of the week.

So... if god was keeping her son safe, maybe he should have gone the extra mile, and just kept him out of the pit to begin with. Lazy fellow that god.

Why? The zoo should pay for not having a 4-year old proof enclosure. If the enclosure was 100% secure then this problem would never have arisen. it's not like this is the only time a kid has got into an enclosure, so clearly to me the problem rests with zoos creating a safe and secure environment for the viewing public.

Piers Morgan had the right attitude by saying that it was sad that such a rare animal had to die because a zoo couldn't make a properly secure enclosure.

How many parents lose their kids in shopping malls and other places? A zoo, as a place that tries to attract families, should be a no more dangerous place to lose a child than a shopping mall. Though losing a child in any public place is dangerous because there are much worse predators than wild or imprisoned animals hanging around human society.

I can't stand the judgmentalism of the people against this boys parent(s). Kids run off all the time and you don't have child welfare services investigating every instance of a child buggering off and getting into trouble whenever a parent turns their back for a few seconds.

The people passing judgement have either never been a parent or have been lucky enough to have compliant kids who never got into any trouble. There are parents who actually kill and maim their kids because they are violent horrible people who should never be allowed to be in charge of any child. That's who child welfare services should be focussing on, not a woman who took her kid(s) for a nice day at the zoo which turned into a regrettable tragedy.

It does appear from the video I saw that had the gorilla not gotten agitated fro the crowd yelling and making a fuss then the kid probably would have been fine, and the gorilla seemed to view the kid as like a baby gorilla and was not worried, threatening or violent towards the kid. But at the end of the day the zoo had to get the kid safely out of the enclosure, and the only way to do that for certain would be to fatally headshot the gorilla. If they'd tried to tranq the gorilla it may have caused agitation and thrashing and harm to the kid. If they tried to shoot to wound and incapacitate it might not have had the desired effect if it was slightly off the mark and to gorilla would have become enraged. If they'd tried to send in a zookeeper the gorilla may have seen that as a threatening situation and become aggressive. Unfortunately in this situation I agree with the decision of the zoo to shoot to kill.