The 17-year-old western lowland silverback Gorilla was shot dead when a four-year-old boy fell into his enclosure over the weekend. Zoo staff have revealed they retrieved and have frozen the animal's sperm so as to give the animal 'a future'.
Animal rights activists have questioned the Zoo management's security techniques and the child's parents over the incident but those affected by gorilla’s death may take comfort in the zoo’s admission that sperm from Harambe had been frozen after his death, which means his ‘gene pool’ will likely continue.
More than 290,000 have now signed a petition calling for 'Justice for Harambe' which lays blame squarely with the child's parents.
But Mr Maynard - who defended the zoo's decision to shoot the gorilla - has insisted 'there is a future' for Harambe because 'it's not the end of his gene pool'.
Harambe’s breed is critically endangered in the wild. Their numbers have delinced more than 60% to about 175,000 in the last quarter-century and though Harambe was not yet mature enough to breed, his sperm was collected after the shooting for possible reproductive use and for research purposes.
Source : DailyMail
Animal rights activists have questioned the Zoo management's security techniques and the child's parents over the incident but those affected by gorilla’s death may take comfort in the zoo’s admission that sperm from Harambe had been frozen after his death, which means his ‘gene pool’ will likely continue.
More than 290,000 have now signed a petition calling for 'Justice for Harambe' which lays blame squarely with the child's parents.
But Mr Maynard - who defended the zoo's decision to shoot the gorilla - has insisted 'there is a future' for Harambe because 'it's not the end of his gene pool'.
Harambe’s breed is critically endangered in the wild. Their numbers have delinced more than 60% to about 175,000 in the last quarter-century and though Harambe was not yet mature enough to breed, his sperm was collected after the shooting for possible reproductive use and for research purposes.
Source : DailyMail