CINCINNATI -- A gorilla was killed after it dragged a 3-year-old boy that fell into its enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden Saturday, Zoo Director Thane Maynard said.
The boy was hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening, police said.
Police and EMTs were called to the zoo at about 4 p.m. Maynard said the boy crawled through a barrier and landed in the moat. He was walking and splashing.
Harambe, a 17-year-old male gorilla weighing more than 400 pounds, picked up the boy, Maynard said. A witness said the gorilla grabbed and dragged the screaming boy around the habitat.
Personnel from the zoo's dangerous animal response team decided to put down Harambe rather than tranquilize him because the boy was in danger, Maynard said.
"It seemed very much ... to be a life-threatening situation," he said.
The gorilla was shot dead, Zoo Director Thane Maynard said.
The boy was sitting upright calmly after the gorilla was tranquilized, according to witnesses. He rescued from the exhibit and hospitalized for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening, police said.
A zoo representative said they were still gathering information but would provide an update as soon as possible.
The "gorilla world" exhibit is home to 11 gorillas in two family groups.
The zoo has a long-running western lowland gorilla propagation program in conjunction with zoos across the country. Last year, a gorilla born at the zoo was the 50th born there.
