When the Cincinnati Zoo silverback gorilla Harambe was shot to protect a small child who had climbed into his enclosure, like most of you, I was terribly disturbed.
As a safety and risk management consultant who deals with risk exposure on a daily basis, my first instinct was to write about this tragic event. But after reading comments from arm-chair social media experts, I decided to back away. The incident had been overplayed from every angle with fault assigned all the way down to the janitor of the zoo to the third cousin of the boy’s family.
With reflection, however, it occurs to me there are valuable lessons to be learned.
The blame train has reached breaking speeds, but once the child was in the gorilla grasp the zoo officials were right to shoot Harambe to protect the child. These very officials among the people who loved the gorilla most, but it came down to a child’s life, and if it were your child, you would be forever grateful.
The Gorilla World exhibit opened in 1978. The Cincinnati Zoo’s director, Thayne Maynard, said the barrier setup exceeded required protocols. It was the first time the Cincinnati Zoo’s Dangerous Animal Response Team was called to kill an animal in the institution’s 143-year history.
It’s easy to blame the parent, but as a parent I will be the first to say, for the grace of God go you and I my friend.
Others argued no one was to blame since it was an accident and we should stop judging. If you were one of those I would say that you were also part of the problem.
After many years working in safety and risk management I realize that accidents do happen. However, with almost every accident, there was a failure leading to it, and it’s usually due to a chain of events or breakdowns. Neglecting to recognize the part that everybody involved played doesn’t do society any favors.
Instead of focusing on zoo officials, the mother or even bystanders who didn’t act, we need to focus on preventing something like this from happening again. Zoo risk management departments all across the world took note and are re-evaluating their zoo exhibit barrier protection systems. With all the technology available today, making zoo exhibits even more safe should be easily accomplished.
With that said here are take-away lessons:
Focus On The Cure – Often times the focus after any tragic event the focus centers around assigning blame. But the real focus needs to learning from this accident to prevent it from reoccurring.
You Can Never Train Too Much – Judging from the 10-minute response time it took for the Dangerous Animal Response Team to arrive and take action, it’s obvious that the decision was based on prior training. To survive or manage your way through a dangerous situation, you must prepare, train and learn techniques to calm anxieties. This is where education and training comes into play, and why our military, police officers, firefighters, pilots and even flight attendants train and train — and then train again. Many of these professionals will never experience the worst-case scenario but will train for it so that when faced with danger their reaction is instinctive and reflexive.
Don’t Drink Your Own Kool-Aid – It’s one thing to believe that you are the best at what you do, but it can become your archilles heel. I suspect that the Cincinnati Zoo officials became complacent with the security they had in place because it had passed all prior safety inspections from the U.S. Department and the Association of Zoo’s & Aquariums and supposedly exceeds all required protocols. Yet a 3-year-old child was able to breach the enclosure. Sometimes we want to believe that our security and safety countermeasures are so advanced and sophisticated, that it gives a false sense of security. To eliminate safety exposures it’s always best to periodically bring in trained outsiders and those outside your industry to give you a fresh prospective. Sometimes you can’t see what’s right before your eyes.
Layer Up – Imagine if there had been just one more layer of security. In every safety and security situation its best to layer your countermeasures, which in turn reduces the risk exposure with each additional layer of defense. The question is how much security or safety is too much?
Fear the Unknown – Fear is the father of bravery but yet the mother of safety. One of the greatest concerns for any business owner or family is the unknown risk. Exhaustive efforts should be made to uncover all viable unknown risks. Business-owners should never become too comfortable and should never stop looking for new or hidden risk exposures.
Always Fear Your Opponent & Never Settle – In sports you never lose a game if your opponent doesn’t score, but in the game of zoo security your opponent only needs to score only once to create a loss. The same is true in the business-world: You are one fiscal quarter away from bankruptcy if you don’t defend against certain risk exposures.
Arrogant disregard of an opponent or a risk has been the demise of many, just ask the captain of the Titanic. When you underestimate a determined foe or risk, you will be unpleasantly surprised.
Never Assume Safety – Regardless where you go, whether it’s the zoo, baseball game, NASCAR race, movie theatre or theme park, the assumption of safety is a farce. In this case the zoo was not and cannot be your babysitter if you have young children. While a degree of liability rests on the venue, you and your family’s safety has to rest with you.
Review the safety rules so that you and your children know what they are. But even then, for goodness sake keep an eye on your children because if you don’t you may not get another opportunity.
Be Safe My Friends.
Keven Moore works in risk management services. He has a bachelor’s degree from University of Kentucky, a master’s from Eastern Kentucky University and 25-plus years of experience in the safety and insurance profession. He lives in Lexington with his family and works out of both the Lexington and Northern Kentucky offices. Keven can be reached at kmoore@roeding.com.
