Colorado Veterinarian Agrees With Cincinnati Zoo's Decision To Kill Gorilla

By Tom Mustin

DENVER (CBS4) - Cincinnati police are now investigating possible charges against the parents of a 3-year-old boy who fell into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo.

It's the cellphone video that has the nation talking. It shows Hirambe -- an endangered, 450-pound silverback gorilla -- dragging a 3-year-old boy through water after the child climbed past a fence, crawled several feet, and fell into the animal's cage at the. Minutes later, the gorilla was shot and killed.

"He was pulling that boy underwater by his ankle for a long period of time. When he scaled up, his heading was banging against the wall as he was climbing up," said witness Kim O'Connor.

The incident has triggered a national outcry. Animal rights activists have filed a complaint against the zoo. Police are also investigating charges against the child's parents. A zoo spokesman says the zoo would not change how it responded to the case.

A local vet agrees.

"Every second that went by the odds of that boy being killed would have gone up," said Dr. Cathryn Sayer, a veterinarian at Animal Health Care Denver. "I don't think there was a right answer here. I'm just happy the boy wasn't harmed," Sayer told CBS4's Tom Mustin.

Sayer says a tranquilizer would have taken too long and may have agitated the gorilla. She believes the zoo did the right thing.

"I'm not a gorilla expert, but from watching the video I think there's a good chance the gorilla could have killed that boy if they hadn't done what they did," she said.

Sayer says the bottom line is that the boy's safety trumped everything else.

"As a veterinarian, we go to school and we do our training because we love animals so much. We're still indoctrinated that the human life is still the most important life in the room."

An animal rights group has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, saying the zoo's enclosures were inadequate and violate the Federal Animal Welfare Act.

An online petition has raised more than 300,000 signatures calling for charges against the parents.

Tom Mustin is CBS4's Weekend Anchor. He has been with CBS4 since 2002, and is always looking for great story ideas. Connect with Tom on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @TomCBS4.