The zoo employees had to act quickly and made a decision to kill a rare silverback gorilla, named Harambe, who was dragging the child around the enclosure like a rag doll. More than 1,000 gorillas are illegally poached for the bushmeat trade each year.Boy captured by gorilla, Cincinnati Zoo, Cincinnati Zoo crisis, Cincinnati Zoo crisis response, Endangered gorilla death, Florida public relations, Gorilla World exhibit, Harambe, Red Banyan Group, South Florida crisis communications, Thane Maynard, zoo incidentĪ holiday weekend quickly turned into a full-blown PR crisis for the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, after a 4-year-old boy fell into the Gorilla World exhibit May 28. The bushmeat trade – the killing of wild animals to be used as human food – is also a major threat to the western lowland gorilla population throughout the Central African rainforests. "Due primarily to habitat destruction caused by logging, mineral mining and agricultural expansion, wild gorilla numbers continue to shrink. "Western lowland gorillas are critically endangered in the wild, with fewer than 175,000 individuals," the zoo points out. In 1978 she moved into Gorilla World, the first-ever naturalist outdoor habitat.įifty gorillas have been born at the Cincinnati Zoo. When Samantha was born in 1970, gorillas lived indoors year-round in the Ape House. Although not how we interpret or care for gorillas today, Susie was already showing the awesome power gorillas had to command our attention and inspire introspection and caring." Back in those days, zoos were more about entertainment than education, conservation, science or organized animal welfare.
"Susie was billed as the world’s only trained gorilla and would sit at tea tables, eat with utensils and pose for photos wearing various outfits. She took up residence in what is now the Reptile House and was popular with visitors, as Curator of Primates Ron Evans explains: The Cincinnati Zoo's first gorilla, "Susie," arrived in 1931 from Europe, riding aboard the Graf Zeppelin. Samantha's parents, "King Tut" and "Penelope," were considered two of Cincinnati's "founder" gorillas.īorn 12 days apart, Sam and Samantha were named after Good Samaritan Hospital where they spent their first weeks receiving care from nurses and doctors. The zoo describes Samantha as "a mother, grandmother, great grandmother, matriarch, role model, record setter, and an inspirational ambassador." She's lived with more than 40 other gorillas during her years at the zoo, given birth to six babies, and has descendants across North America.
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Not much was known about how to rear baby gorillas, and the zoo's former Ape House wasn't conducive to a mother gorilla raising her own young, so the pair spent their first weeks at Good Sam. They were born 12 days apart in 1970 and were hand-raised with help from staff at Good Samaritan Hospital, from which both their names were derived.
Samantha was raised with another gorilla named Sam. The zoo has been sharing facts about gorillas on social media in the 50 days leading up to Friday's celebration. WVXU Silverback, Jomo, dismantled the cake's top layer while the younger gorillas enjoyed other treats spread throughout the gorilla habitat.
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