![Kaley Cuoco photo By iDominick [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons](https://2paragraphs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Kaley_Cuoco_at_PaleyFest_2013-619x375.jpg)
Actress and celebrity animal rights activist Kaley Cuoco reacted with horror to the shooting of a gorilla named Harambe in a Cincinnati zoo after a child fell into its enclosure. “Once again, another senseless horrendous animal being killed over people not using their brains,” Cuoco wrote. “If you watch the footage, you see this gorgeous animal holding that child’s hand. Do with that what you will. As sad as this makes me, a part of me is happy for that amazing creature doesn’t have to live in captivity another day.” Cuoco wrote passionately and swiftly — she didn’t mean, presumably, that the animal was “senseless and horrendous” — she meant the killing was. And Cuoco’s reaction was similar to many online reactions, a mix of outrage, sadness and helplessness at the killing of the innocent gorilla.
But Cuoco’s opinion, while popular, isn’t the only one. The famous animal activist and TV star Jack Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, also in Ohio, called the shooting by zookeepers “1000 percent” the right decision. Hanna is no stranger to gorillas in particular — he is one of the founders of Partners in Conservation, a gorilla-focused conservation effort partnering the Columbus Zoo with gorilla conservationists in Rwanda. Hanna knows gorillas in captivity and out. While Cuoco believes that the kind-hearted gorilla was holding the child’s hand in a compassionate way, Hanna said: “”I’ll bet my life on this, that child would not be here today [if the gorilla hadn’t been shot].”
