A tragic occurrence took place on Saturday at the Cincinnati Zoo, where officials were forced to shoot dead an endangered lowland gorilla in order to save a four-year-old boy who fell into the enclosure.
The boy had wandered past the fence of the enclosure and fell around 10 to 12 feet into the moat.
A massive and powerful 400 pound (180 kilogram) 17-year-old male gorilla named Harambe approached the boy, while two other female gorillas stayed back and did not get involved.
Harambe grabbed and pulled the boy, with the Cincinnati Fire Department reporting that first responders "witnessed a gorilla who was violently dragging and throwing the child."
The boy was dragged through the shallow moat for around 10 minutes, at which piont the zoo officials determined that the boy was in life-threatening danger and shot Harambe dead as the boy was below him between the gorilla's legs.
The child, whose identity was not made known, was taken to nearby Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, where he was given treatment for serious but not life threatening injuries, reports the Cincinnati Enquirer.
According to the zoo, no one has ever entered the gorilla enclosure in its 38 years.
The officials "made a tough choice and they made the right choice because they saved that little boy's life. It could have been very bad," said Zoo director Thane Maynard. He explained that a tranquilizer dart would not have acted upon the gorilla quickly enough and would have endangered the child even more.
He emphasized that while the gorilla was not actively attacking the boy, the child "certainly was at risk."
"We are all devastated that this tragic accident resulted in the death of a critically-endangered gorilla. This is a huge loss for the zoo family and the gorilla population worldwide," added Maynard.
Not long after the incident a Facebook group called Justice for Harambe was created, garnering over 100 likes in under two hours.
"This page was created to raise awareness of Harambe's murder on 5/28/16. We wish to see charges brought against those responsible!," reads the page description, although there are no plans to bring charges against the parents of the child.
Harambe arrived at the zoo in 2015 from the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas.
Not all such events end tragically - a similar occurrence in 1986 on the UK island of Jersey saw a five-year-old boy named Levan Merritt fall into a gorilla enclosure, with the impact causing him to lose consciousness.
A silverback gorilla named Jambo guarded the boy, keeping the other gorillas away and stroking the boy's back. When the child regained consciousness he started to cry, startling the gorillas and making them back up, and allowing the zookeepers to extract the child.
Jambo became something of a hero, appearing on Jersey stamps. A life-sized statue of the gorilla was sold for 18,000 pounds ($26,000) back in 2010.