Who Am I? The Mother of A Three Year Old Attacked By a Chimp

Who am I? First, I am the mother of a child who was attacked by a chimpanzee. So as you can imagine the news of the Cincinnati Zoo killing their gorilla is one that feels too familiar to me. My child didn't crawl into an enclosure; my daughter attacked in our living room. My emotions over this ordeal are intense, but they may not be what some might think.

I am a mother that has had to deal with a lot of years of pain caused by the offensive attack. I have had to deal with the real chimp, Sammy, that attacked my 3-year-old being one that an entire county cherished as if he were a celebrity. We had had years of dealing with that one night when that man brought Sammy into our home.

Sammy changed our lives and altered a personality of the most wonderful little girl. He didn't suffer, he didn't pay, and he went on to live a life untouched. Even, though at the time of the attack, both her dad and I wanted to kill the little monster immediately. All of us wanted to see that Sammy suffered, but our priority was taking care of Heather.

As I look at the headlines of the gorilla killed because of the little boy climbing over the fence and falling into the pen at the Cincinnati Zoo, I have to say while some will see a similarity they are not at all alike. You see I had my baby standing safely in front of me when Sammy lunged to attack her. We were in what should always feel like a haven, our home. Sammy's owner brought him to a real estate transaction and left him in the vehicle long enough to sign papers. That didn't sit well with the male chimp.

I was watching like a mother hen as I couldn't stop the chimp from his onslaught of terror. I was being observant and taking care of my children as the attack happened. This incident was not a moment where parents weren't watching their child, and this was a time when parents couldn't stop something bad from happening. We learned later that when chimpanzees get angry, they attack the first thing smaller than them and unfortunately that was my three-year-old.

That Cincinnati mother, I still wonder how the child managed to climb over without anyone stopping him. Where were the parents? Anyone who has taken their small child to the zoo knows that they are fast and slippery, but this is unacceptable.

As we wanted to see, Sammy killed it never happened. The owner of that little monster so consumed with whether or not we were going to sue him, all of our attention and concern was on seeking medical care for our little girl.What did happen was the fact that his very irresponsible owner had to stop taking the chimp where small children could come into contact with him? What also occurred was the laws changed regarding transport of wild, exotic animals, they no longer could have free run of vehicles. Those were beautiful things.

The things that occurred at the hospital were a different story, one I will tell later.

When asked about the ordeal later in life Heather remarked that she felt she saved lives, because now people would be held more responsible actions regarding wild animal pets.

I watch the news about the Cincinnati Zoo killing the gorilla, and at first, I reacted like any parent would. Whatever did it take to make sure the child was safe, right? That was the first thing that I thought. And I listened as they explained that using tranquilizers would have taken too long. Then I heard that they watched this ordeal for 10 minutes before they shot the gorilla.

That was when I thought Seriously; they waited 10 minutes? I couldn't believe it; they said the tranquilizer would take too long when they took that long anyway? Why didn't they use it at first instead of watching for 10 minutes?

Now, I know I was not there and don't know the entire story. But as a mother who watched my child viciously attacked by a chimp, I have to say: If they had killed the gorilla immediately, I would think differently. But they didn't they waited. So why didn't they tranquilize in the beginning and save a life?

Watching the video, it appeared the gorilla was protecting the little boy, something as a parent I think the parents should have done in the first place. There was time; maybe there was a way to have saved the gorilla. They didn't even try.