The Boy and the Gorilla
by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Shock, horror, outrage, and a host of other reactions when a 3-year-old boy climbed into an enclosure with silverback gorillas. Harimbe, the male, dragged the child through the water and stood over him, and zoo officials decided the best course of action was to shoot the animal. Expert Jack Hanna is certain that shooting it was the correct course of action , since the gorilla was showing signs of agitation. Silverback gorilla image credit: Freeimages / Chad Littlejohn Instead of being thankful that a human child was saved from a powerful wild animal, there has been a great deal of outrage and finger-pointing as to who is to blame: the parents , the zoo, and so forth. Read the news reports and watch for emotionally-laden terminology and provocative wording . Some animal "rights" people want the parents held responsible for the gorilla's death . (Trophy hunters Rebecca Francis , Melissa Bachman , and Walter Palmer received death threa