Children pay tribute to a gorilla statue, outside the Gorilla World exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden on May 29, 2016. On Saturday, the 17-year-old Gorilla Harambe grabbed and dragged a four-year-old boy who fell into the exhibit moat forcing a special zoo response team to shoot it. Photo: AP
According to the zoo director Thane Maynard, an investigation indicates that the boy climbed over a 3-foot-tall railing, then walked through an area of bushes about 4 feet deep before plunging some 15 feet into the moat. The boy was treated at a hospital and released that same day. In this picture, Lucas Salcedo, 5, points toward the shuttered Gorilla World exhibit as he asks his father if they could enter at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, in Cincinnati on Sunday. Photo: AP
Harambe, the 17-year-old gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo is pictured in this undated handout photo provided by Cincinnati Zoo. The zoo said that it’s the first such spectator breach at Gorilla World since it opened in 1978. Photo: Reuters
Zoo visitors look at protestors and mourners from a walk bridge during a vigil for the gorilla Harambe outside the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden on Monday. However, the zoo had received messages of support and condolences from around the world, including from other zoo directors and gorilla experts. Photo: AP
Kate Villanueva of Erlanger, Kentucky, centre right, holds a sign depicting the gorilla Harambe during a vigil outside the zoo on Monday. Anthony Seta, an animal rights activist in Cincinnati who helped organize a vigil just outside the zoo gates said, the gathering wasn’t meant to assess blame but rather to honour Harambe, who turned 17 the day before he was shot. Photo: AP
People have taken to social media to voice their outrage about the killing of a member of an endangered species. A Facebook page called “Justice for Harambe” was created along with online petitions and another page calling for a June 5 protest at the zoo. In this picture, Animal rights activists and mourners gather for a Memorial Day vigil outside the zoo, in Cincinnati on Monday. Photo: AP
Thane Maynard, director of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, speaks during a news conference, in Cincinnati on Monday. Defending the decision to kill, Mr. Maynard said the gorilla was agitated and disoriented by the commotion during the 10 minutes after the boy fell. He said the gorilla could crush a coconut in one hand and there was no doubt that the boy’s life was in danger. Photo: AP
As people attend a vigil outside the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens on Monday, its director said the zoo remains safe for its some 1.6 million annual visitors, but a review is underway for possible improvements. Photo: Reuters
Gladys Porter Zoo facilities director Jerry Stones speaks to members of the media about his memory of Harambe, in Brownsville, Texas. The zoo’s staff were deeply saddened by the gorilla’s death as Harambe had spent most of his life here. Photo: AP
A boy brings flowers to put beside a statue of a gorilla outside the shuttered Gorilla World exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, in Cincinnati on Monday. Gorilla World remained closed on Monday, but zoo director Thane Maynard said it could reopen next weekend. Photo: AP