U.S. police investigate parents of boy rescued from gorilla

The parents of a 4-year-old boy whose fall into a gorilla's exhibit moat prompted the killing of the animal are under investigation, police said on Tuesday.

The Cincinnati Police Department has issued a statement about focusing on the actions of the parents that led up to the incident and not the operation or safety of the Cincinnati Zoo.

Thane Maynard, director of the Cincinnati Zoo, denied on Monday that their management had negligence in safety and insisted that the one-meter barrier around the gorilla enclosure meets industry standards.

On Saturday, a 17-year-old gorilla was shot dead in order to rescue the boy who had fallen into its enclosure in Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio.

The small boy climbed the barrier and reached the moat filled with water surrounding the gorilla enclosure. Then the lowland silverback gorilla, named Harambe, grabbed the boy and dragged him for meters, shows a video footage.

Maynard said the zoo's dangerous animal response team decided that the boy was in a life-threatening situation and that they needed to put down the gorilla. "They made a tough choice and they made the right choice because they saved that little boy's life," Maynard said.

It was the first time that the team had killed a zoo animal in such an emergency situation, said Maynard. He called it "a very sad day" at the zoo.

The Gorilla World exhibit in the Cincinnati Zoo has been closed since the incident and will reopen on Saturday. Endi