Child falls into zoo enclosure, survives encounter with massive gorilla

Update: The boy has returned home and is reportedly doing well. The family has requested privacy in this matter. Nearby witness Kim O'Connor told reporters that she heard the child wanted to get into the water with the gorilla. Zoo officials said that they killed the gorilla shortly after the boy fell because they felt that his life was in danger (AP). 

Adults know better than to walk into a gorilla cage — children, not so much.

On Saturday, a 4-year-old boy crawled under a rail and through wires, before dropping 12 feet into into a gorilla cage at the Cincinnati zoo. Shortly after, a 17-year-old, 400 lb. male gorilla named Harambe grabbed the child and dragged him through a moat. Harambe then proceeded to drag the child around for 10 minutes before the zoo's dangerous animal rescue team shot and killed the gorilla.

At the time of the shooting, the child was between the gorilla's legs. 

There were two female gorillas in the enclosure when the boy fell in. Both were successfully removed from the area, but Harambe stayed in and remained attached to the child.

Zoo officials proceeded to shoot Harambe in lieu of tranquilizing him. Many tranquilizers take up to several minutes to go into effect, putting the child's life in jeopardy.

"The child was not under attack but all sorts of things could happen," Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard said at a press briefing. "He certainly was at risk."

Zoo officials were sad to lose Harambe, a western lowland gorilla. Lowland gorillas are an endangered species, and Harambe had been a zoo favorite. 

The child has since been taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.