Are gorillas a danger to people?

Learn and Talk III – Lesson 5

Preview
Words Expressions

be confronted by
1. backlash /ˈbæ k.læʃ/ [noun]
a strong feeling among a group of people in reaction to a change or recent events in
defend its actions
society or politics

2. enclosure /ɪnˈkləʊ.ʒər/ [noun] tranquiliser darts

an area surrounded by fences or walls
depict as
3. encounter /ɪnˈkaʊn.tər/ [verb]
to meet someone unexpectedly
perceived them as
4. primatologist /ˌpraɪməˈtɒlədʒɪst/ [noun]
the scientist who studies primates

5. habituated /həˈbɪtʃ.u.eɪ.tɪd/ [adjective]

used to something, especially something unpleasant

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 Learn and Talk III – Lesson 5

Article

Are gorillas a danger to people?

Cincinnati Zoo in the US is facing a public
backlash after shooting dead one of the
gorillas in its care.
A young boy got into the gorilla enclosure
and was confronted by a silverback male
gorilla named Harambe. The gorilla
repeatedly dragged the boy through the
water. To save the boy, the zoo's staff shot
and killed Harambe.
The story is particularly sad because
Harambe was a western lowland gorilla, a
subspecies of western gorilla that is
critically endangered.2 © 2016 Acadsoc Limited
 Learn and Talk III – Lesson 5

The public outrage has mainly focused on whether it was truly

necessary to kill Harambe. The zoo has defended its actions, arguing
that non-lethal methods such as tranquiliser darts are slow and
would have put the child at more risk. Gorilla experts have, in the
main, supported the zoo. The Cincinnati police have said they will
investigate the child's parents' actions.

Gorillas were once depicted as violent brutes who would kill a

human at any chance encountered. However, from the 1970s
onwards the primatologist Dian Fossey transformed gorillas'
reputation with her pioneering studies of wild mountain gorillas.
Fossey found that the gorillas were hardly ever violent. For the most
part they were peaceful.

Clearly, it is possible to meet a gorilla and come away entirely

unharmed. But some gorillas human met had been carefully
habituated to humans over many years, and everyone involved
knew how to treat them with respect. In different
circumstances, gorillas can be truly dangerous.
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 Learn and Talk III – Lesson 5

Before the incident with Harambe, there were two cases of

children getting into gorilla enclosures. Both were unharmed.
However, in both cases the children were unconscious, so the
gorillas would not have perceived them as a threat. Most
dramatically, in 1986 a gorilla in Jersey Zoo in the UK acted in a
protective way after a boy fell into a gorilla enclosure.

All told, there have been three instances where children have
fallen into gorilla enclosures, and in two cases nobody died.
"This time somebody did, and it was the gorilla," says
Redmond. He says the most important thing is not to judge the
actions of Cincinnati Zoo, but to learn from the incident to
prevent anything like it happening again.

4 © 2016 Acadsoc Limited

 Learn and Talk III – Lesson 5

Discussion

1. According to the article, do you think that the gorillas are

dangerous to children ?
2. How do you look at the fact that the zoo shot the gorilla ?
3. What should we learn from this accident?

5 © 2016 Acadsoc Limited

 Learn and Talk III – Lesson 5

Further Reading

http://www.51voa.com/VOA_Special_English/harambe-gorilla-cincinnati-zoo--
69871.html

6 © 2016 Acadsoc Limited