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UPDATE: Boy wounded at zoo, out of hospital

Posted at 10:54 AM, May 29, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-29 17:31:17-04

A 4-year-old boy who fell into a gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo is out of the hospital.

Zoo officials say the boy was released Saturday night, just hours after security officers killed a gorilla that had grabbed him.
 
The zoo's director said Sunday that he's glad to hear the boy will be OK. The boy fell about 10 feet into a moat where one of the gorillas stood over him and then pulled him away.
 
Zoo officials say its special animal response team shot and killed the gorilla 10 minutes after the boy fell because they felt his life was in danger.
 
The zoo's Gorilla World exhibit remained closed Sunday, but the rest of the zoo is open.

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A 17-year-old gorilla named Harambe was killed Saturday after it dragged a 4-year-old boy that fell into its enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, Zoo Director Thane Maynard said.

The boy was hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening, police said. 

District Chief Marc Monahan said firefighters who responded saw the boy "dragged around and banged around pretty violently" by the gorilla.

Personnel from the zoo's dangerous animal response team decided to put down Harambe rather than tranquilize him because the boy was in danger and the tranquilizer would not have taken effect immediately, Maynard said. Two other gorillas in the exhibit were called back inside.

Maynard called it "a life-threatening situation" for the boy. The response team shot Harambe.

WATCH video from a bystander in the player above