Harambe the silverback gorilla was shot and killed on Saturday, after a four-year-old boy fell into his enclosure and was subsequently dragged around by the animal.
In order to save the boy’s life, Zoo officials took the decision to shoot the gorilla, causing outrage from animal lovers across the world.
But now the boy’s mother, who is understandably overjoyed that her four-year-old is safe and sound, has written a response to people slamming her parenting.
Taking to Facebook, Michelle Gregg broke her silence to speak out about the incident.
“I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers today. What started off as a wonderful day turned into a scary one,” she wrote.
“For those of you that have seen the news or been on social media that was my son that fell in the gorilla exhibit at the zoo. God protected my child until the authorities were able to get to him. My son is safe and was able to walk away with a concussion and a few scrapes … no broken bones or internal injuries.
“As a society we are quick to judge how a parent could take their eyes off of their child and if anyone knows me I keep a tight watch on my kids.
“Accidents happen but I am thankful that the right people were in the right place today.”
Many internet users had hit out at the mother following the incident, stating their sadness that an endangered animal died due to human error.
Twitter user Eva Thalen went even more extreme, writing: “Here’s a rule of thumb; if you have to shoot – aim for the least endangered one.”
More than 105,000 people have no signed a petition on Change.org, for the parents to be “held accountable for their actions of not supervising their child.”
