# Gorilla shot to save young boy **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 30, 2016, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gorilla-shot-to-save-young-boy/756046 "2016-05-30T01:13:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 152
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gorilla-shot-to-save-young-boy/756046/152 "2016-05-31T01:22:05Z")
> [@](#): > > I just don’t understand the rush to kill the animal. The gorilla was with the child for ten minutes without attacking. I wish they had given the agitated gorilla time to calm down after zoo staff removed the crowd. The staff might have been able to safely remove the child like its been done in other cases. I linked a couple of them last night. Today the news is also mentioning those cases where zoos saved the kid without killing the gorilla… > > Shooting should have been the last option and not option #1. Much like SWAT teams do with humans, they could keep a rifle aimed at the gorilla. Drop him in his tracks if he makes any aggressive move towards the child. That’s probably what was done in prior cases. Exactly. This isn’t exactly a wild animal-he’s lived with people for 17 years. He’s also not some hungry tiger, he’s pretty close to being human and his keepers probably communicate quite well with him. I’m sure they could have gotten the kid safely away in some way if they’d tried. > [@](#): > > ACQUIRING?! You talk about it like it was some sort of slave, not an endangered great ape worth more than a stupid human child! Where exactly do you think they are going to get another gorilla? There aren’t many left. Personally, I think any gorilla’s life is worth far more than any child’s life simply based on their relative rarity. Kids are a dime a dozen. Gorillas, not. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gorilla-shot-to-save-young-boy/756046)._