--- description: Authorities are considering possible criminal charges following an incident at the Cincinnati Zoo left a 17-year-old gorilla dead title: Police Mull Criminal Charges After Cincinnati Zoo Gorilla's Death image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6f82b61a78a1101/698895b0cd1bbaf1de700ea4/gorilla-death-police-probe.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Police Mull Criminal Charges After Cincinnati Zoo Gorilla's Death  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 13, 2023 9:03 AM CUTPublished: May 31, 2016 5:42 PM CUT  Flowers lay around a bronze statue of a gorilla outside the Cincinnati Zoo's Gorilla World exhibit on May 30, 2016. Flowers lay around a bronze statue of a gorilla outside the Cincinnati Zoo's Gorilla World exhibit on May 30, 2016.William Philpott—Reuters  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 13, 2023 9:03 AM CUTPublished: May 31, 2016 5:42 PM CUT Authorities are [considering possible criminal charges](http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0YM1XH?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm%5Fsource=twitter&utm%5Fmedium=Social "undefined") following an incident at the Cincinnati Zoo over the weekend [left a 17-year-old gorilla dead](http://time.com/4351482/gorilla-cincinnati-zoo-shot-boy/ "undefined") after a boy fell into its enclosure, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters said in a [statement](http://www.hcpros.org/press-room/2016/statement-hamilton-county-prosecutor-joseph-t-deters "undefined") that the Cincinnati Police Department is looking into Saturday’s shooting death of the zoo’s male western lowland gorilla named Harambe, which has sparked national outrage. Harambe was killed to save a three-year-old boy who officials said was being dragged around by the gorilla after the child crawled through a barrier and fell into the gorilla’s exhibit. “Once their investigation is concluded, they will confer with our office on possible criminal charges,” Deters said. The zoo’s director, Thane Maynard, said the 420-pound gorilla was shot dead [instead of tranquilized](http://time.com/4351886/cincinnati-zoo-gorilla-killed-tranquilized/ "undefined") because the anesthetic would have taken too long to go into effect and may have “created alarm” in the animal. “The risk was due to the power of that animal,” he said at a news conference Monday. Meanwhile, an animal rights activist group on Tuesday filed a federal negligence complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture against the zoo, Reuters reports. [Stop Animal Exploitation Now](https://www.facebook.com/officialSAEN/ "undefined") is seeking the maximum penalty of $10,000. “The failure of the Cincinnati Zoo to adequately construct this enclosure to protect both the public and the animal held prisoner there is a clear and fatal violation of the Animal Welfare Act,” it said in its complaint letter to the USDA. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4352627/gorilla-cincinnati-zoo-charges/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4352627/gorilla-cincinnati-zoo-charges/"},"headline":"Police Mull Criminal Charges After Cincinnati Zoo Gorilla's Death","datePublished":"2016-05-31T17:42:52.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T09:03:25.000Z","description":"The beloved gorilla Harambe was killed to save a four-year-old boy who fell into his habitat","url":"https://time.com/4352627/gorilla-cincinnati-zoo-charges/","keywords":["animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6f82b61a78a1101/698895b0cd1bbaf1de700ea4/gorilla-death-police-probe.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6f82b61a78a1101/698895b0cd1bbaf1de700ea4/gorilla-death-police-probe.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Flowers lay around a bronze statue of a gorilla and her baby outside the Cincinnati Zoo's Gorilla World exhibit in Cincinnati, Ohio","caption":"Flowers lay around a bronze statue of a gorilla and her baby outside the Cincinnati Zoo's Gorilla World exhibit, two days after a boy tumbled into its moat and officials were forced to kill Harambe, a Western lowland gorilla, in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. Ma","creditText":"William Philpott—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4352627/gorilla-cincinnati-zoo-charges/","name":"Police Mull Criminal Charges After Cincinnati Zoo Gorilla's Death"}}]}] ```