The Mother Accused of Letting Her Child Fall into Gorilla Pit Will Not Be Charged

After weeks of twitlash and parent shaming in the public, the mother of the child who fell into a gorilla’s cage will not face child endangerment charges. 32-year old Michelle Gregg was visited by child protection services, after her 4 year old son, Isaiah slipped into the animal’s (cage) causing zoo officials to shoot and kill the animal for fear he would kill the child.

When asked what evidence was provided to come to the decision not to prosecute the mother, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters responded with, “Well first of all, the video that we have is what you all have. The zoo does not maintain other video devices in that area. There’s a camera there, but it’s old and not in use”. To back up this information, he then went on to say that, “By all accounts, this mother did not act in any way, where she presented this child to some harm.” Deters explained the fact that she had three other kids with her, and if anyone doesn’t believe a three year old can scamper off very quickly, they’ve never had kids.

The zoo has done work to avoid further encounters such as this, by changing the border around the encampment. Deters gave an explanation as to why the gorilla was slain, which reminded the public of the harsh reality that although the zoo lost a beautiful animal, its life, however, does not equate to human life.

Ashley Lambert