Cincinatti Zoo officials shoot and kill gorilla after child falls into enclosure

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

How did the little bastard fall in that enclosure so easily, anyway?  Was the barrier right there on display for any small child to enter if they wished?

I can't tell if the angst toward the kid is real or not. As much as I hate most things young (millennials), a death sentence for something a lot of kids would probably love to do--climb into a zoo exhibit--for relatively innocent reasons doesn't seem appropriate. That aside though, "little bastard" seems a bit harsh of a label.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

From a purely selfish standpoint, it ought not seem strange that we would value "one of our own" over an "other". Our ability to empathize with a gorilla should be limited. But, I admit, a humanist society ought not necessarily be the default view of our society. That said, I suppose the argument could be made that biodiversity is more important to the "broader picture" than a single human life. I don't know the objective value of one member of an endangered species, but I imagine the debate could be made, though I'd, in general, disagree with that assertion.

That said, if we want to take the position that human life is essentially equal to that of a gorilla, it still would not "really matter". We have the weapons, we can assert force across the globe, gorillas can not. So if life has no inherent value, we still have the ability, if not the overt right, to assert the species' will, regardless of morality.

As for my own viewpoint, were I still the good Catholic I was raised to be, I'm sure I would produce some internally coherent, though not necessarily facially true argument stating that the boy's life is worth more than the gorillas. Outside of that, I refer to paragraph 2 and the point that I can empathize more with the boy and his parents than any animal.