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Fatal overdoses hitting record levels in Luzerne County, report says

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Letter to the Editor: West Side’s pricey pothole-patching machine was supposed to keep streets in good shape

<p>Grieve for the gorilla.</p><p>At the same time, question whether the Cincinnati Zoo&#8217;s staffers could have installed a safer barrier to prevent a child on Saturday from dropping into the animal&#8217;s enclosure, and why no adult stopped the 4-year-old boy from putting himself in jeopardy.</p><p>Don&#8217;t, however, buy into the notion that zookeepers behaved irresponsibly or rashly by fatally shooting the gorilla. Of the two panicked and unpredictable primates in that moat, they saved the one whose life is more precious. The unidentified boy reportedly is &#8220;doing just fine,&#8221; according to a statement from the family Sunday.</p><p>The tragic scenario &#8211; video clips of which were televised and posted online over the Memorial Day holiday &#8211; could have ended much differently for the boy, his family and observers of the 10-minute ordeal. If the 400-pound, male silverback gorilla had not been killed, Jack Hanna, host of &#8220;Jack Hanna&#8217;s Into the Wild,&#8221; told a Columbus television station, &#8220;I&#8217;ll bet my life on this, that child would not be here today.&#8221;</p><p>Nevertheless, the death of the gorilla named Harambe quickly stirred second-guessing and anger among animal rights activists and others.</p><p>An outpouring of sympathy for Harambe and the fellow gorillas with which he shared the enclosure is both understandable and fitting. But in tribute to the beautiful animal, people shouldn&#8217;t curse the conduct of zoo staffers on the scene.</p><p>Instead, contribute to the cause to keep other endangered gorillas alive in their native habitats &#8211; where they belong.</p><p>The growing backlash this week is reminiscent of public outrage after a suicidal man released nearly 56 exotic animals, including Bengal tigers, from his farm near Zanesville, Ohio, in 2011, compelling police to shoot and kill dozens of them. Callers from around the world berated emergency dispatchers and police after a photo emerged of the animals&#8217; carcasses, even though tranquilizing the cats, bears and wolves wasn&#8217;t a viable option. And night was closing in. And the scene was near an interstate, a nursing home, a motel and a school.</p><p>&#8220;Tranquilizing animals is a tricky business,&#8221; wrote Chris Jones for a March 2012 article in Esquire magazine about the Zanesville episode. &#8220;&#8230; Their systems might resist the tranquilizer for ten or fifteen minutes, maybe more. Different animals also require different drugs and different amounts of them, depending on the species, how much they weigh, and whether they&#8217;ve eaten recently. Too much tranquilizer and the animal might die; not enough and the animal will only be enraged by it.&#8221;</p><p>Not wanting to risk an aggressive outburst from Harambe, as the gorilla held and dragged the boy, Cincinnati zookeepers instead chose the lethal option. For that, they shouldn&#8217;t be blamed.</p><p>They acted quickly and responsibly to save a child&#8217;s life.</p><style>
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Our Opinion: Zoo’s shooting of gorilla heartbreaking but appropriate under the dire circumstance