No Charges in Gorilla Case

Cincinnati authorities say mom wasn't to blame
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 6, 2016 12:16 PM CDT
No Charges in Gorilla Case
Harambe, a western lowland gorilla, was fatally shot at the zoo.   (Jeff McCurry/Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden via The Cincinatti Enquirer via AP, File)

The mother of the boy who fell into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo last week won't face criminal charges over the incident. The Hamilton County prosecutor summed it up this way: "If you don't believe a 3-year-old can scamper away that quickly, you've never had kids," says Joe Deters, per the Cincinnati Enquirer. Zoo officials shot 17-year-old gorilla Harambe to make sure the boy wasn't harmed, a decision that set off a furious debate. "I've never seen the attention given to a family endangering case as this," says Deters. The boy wasn't seriously hurt, and the family says it has no plans to file a suit against the zoo. (More gorilla stories.)

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