Memorial day weekend is a time for remembrance, relaxation, or even cookouts. However that was not the case for the Gregg Family.

On May 30, Isaiah Gregg, 4, tried to get a closer look into the gorilla pit at the Cincinnati Zoo, but to his dismay the young boy fell into the home of a 17 year old gorilla by the name of Harambe.

A video surfaced showing Gregg being dragged through the water by Harambe. With all of the commotion in the video, it is assumed that a big crowd surrounded the pit which may have startled Harambe.

“I’m right here,” Michelle Gregg, mother of Isaiah said. “Isaiah, be calm. Be calm, be calm.”

The zoo keepers did not have much time to decide which course of action to take with the situation. It was either the boy or the gorilla.

It was said that if a tranquilizer gun was used, the process would take approximately 15 minutes to affect Harambe making him agitated and possibly harm the boy, so the second option was used which involved shooting and killing Harambe.

“They made a tough choice and they made the right choice because they saved that little boy’s life,” Thane Maynard, zoo director, told the Washington Post. “It could have been very bad.”

There have been conflicting opinions saying that Harambe did not have to die in order to save Gregg. People have said that the mother should have kept a closer eye on her child and that Harambe, who just celebrated his seventeenth birthday two days prior, did not have to pay. Some have even insisted that Harambe was trying to protect the young boy from the panicked bystanders.

What do you think? Did the Cincinnati Zoo make the right decision, or could they have come up with a better solution?

Criticism has come about regarding Michelle Gregg for not jumping in and helping her child. People believe that she could have been a factor in saving both Gregg’s life and Harambe.

In response to these negative comments, Deirdre Lykins, a bystander, took to Facebook stating that both her husband and the mother of Isaiah Gregg actually wanted to go over into the 15 foot drop.

“Neither my husband or the mother would have made that jump without breaking something,” Lykins said. “This mother was not negligent.”

However there are those who still feel as if the mother should have been more aware and also done something despite the repercussions.
Would you risk your life to save someone you loved?