Justice For Harambe? Police Considering Criminal Charges Over Killing Of Endangered Gorilla

The furious fans of Harambe the gorilla may get satisfaction from their petition “Justice for Harambe”, which, as of this writing, has climbed past 400,000 signatures on the way to half a million.

According to ABC News, police are investigating possible criminal charges over the incident, in which 17-year-old silverback Harambe was shot after a four-year-old boy fell into his enclosure.

"The incident at the Cincinnati Zoo involving the young child who fell into the gorilla enclosure is under investigation by the Cincinnati Police Department," said Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters.

"Once their investigation is concluded, they will confer with our office on possible criminal charges."

It’s not yet known whether the investigation is looking into the actions of the child’s parents (as the petition calls for) or the Cincinnati Zoo itself. Perhaps both.

Even if the police decide not to press charges against them, Cincinnati Zoo is not out of the woods yet.

Animal rights activist group Stop Animal Exploitation Now has filed a negligence complaint to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) seeking a maximum penalty of $US10,000 ($AUD13,837) for failing to “adequately construct this enclosure to protect both the public and the animal held prisoner there”.

It comes as news emerges of a previous incident at the same zoo from March of this year, in which two doors remained open in a service hallway, allowing two polar bears to enter an area with electrical wires.

The bears were eventually tranquilised and returned to their enclosure.

Cincinnati Zoo's Gorilla World exhibit, which formerly featured Harambe, has been closed since the weekend’s chaos, but will reopen this Saturday. When they will reopen their deactivated Facebook account remains unknown.

Yesterday, the mother of the boy took to Facebook to offer an explanation for her son's encounter with Harambe: “accidents happen”.

Photo: Facebook.