Jun 1, 2016 3 min read

”An endangered animal should not have to pay with its life because of a lack of supervision.”

That comment on social media sums up the thoughts of many in the wake of the killing of Harambe, a 17-year-old western lowland gorilla, after a 3-year-old boy climbed over a fence and fell into the gorilla enclosure Saturday at the Cincinnati Zoo.

The question being asked far and wide – one that we also would ask – is, “Where were the parents?” Not looking in the direction of their 3-year-old, apparently.

Once the child was inside the gorilla enclosure, Harambe grabbed the youngster from a moat and dragged him around the area for about 10 to 15 minutes. A special zoo response team was summoned, and Harambe was shot.

The outrage was nearly instantaneous. According to a CBS News report, there’s a petition on Change.org that reads, “In light of the recent tragedy at the Cincinnati Zoo in the death of western lowland gorilla Harambe and the enormous loss of this critically endangered animal, we would like to pass Harambe’s Law, so there are legal consequences when an endangered animal is harmed or killed due to the negligence of visitors.”

Some suggested that a tranquilizer dart should have been used on the gorilla, but those take some time to work, and it’s hard to argue with the difficult decision made by zoo officials that killing Harambe was the only way to ensure that the child could be pulled out alive.

We do, however, agree that the parents are not without blame in this incident, and authorities in Cincinnati are looking into whether charges such as child endangerment should be filed.

We’re well aware that parenting is a tough job, but from the time they can move on their own and for years thereafter, children require our constant vigilance. Even 10 seconds of inattention can lead to tragedy.

The mother of the 3-year-old who fell into the gorilla enclosure took to social media to defend herself against those questioning her level of care for her child, saying, “If anyone knows me, I keep a tight watch on my kids. Accidents happen.”

Obviously, her “watch” was not tight enough, and it wasn’t some simple miscue. Tripping over one’s own feet and skinning one’s knee is an accident. Swerving to miss a deer on the road and clipping some fenceposts is an accident. Failing to pay proper attention to your child, giving that child enough time to climb over a fence and drop into a gorilla enclosure, is not an accident. It’s poor parenting.

It perhaps doesn’t rise to the level of foolishness displayed a few years back in Pittsburgh, when a mother placed her 2-year-old son on a railing above an exhibit of wild African dogs, and the child slipped from her grasp and was fatally mauled, but it was inexcusably negligent.

It’s simply a fact that some people are better suited for parenting than others. Our local animal shelters conduct fairly detailed screenings of adoption applicants to be as certain as possible that they will be good “parents” for dogs and cats. There’s no such safety net to weed out those who probably shouldn’t be entrusted with human children. Anyone capable of procreation can get a baby. Sometimes that leads to tragic outcomes for a child. And sometimes a magnificent, endangered animal gets a bullet in the head.