Michelle Gregg, the mother of the boy that was involved in the tragic death of Harambe the gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo, has endured enough. She lost sight of her son for mere seconds while consoling another of her children and the unthinkable happened. Her son broke loose from her and managed to wiggle his way into a gorilla enclosure. Devastatingly, the security team in charge of protecting the public from the animals were forced to shoot and kill the beautiful gorilla, Harambe, in order to guarantee the child's safety.

Now the internet proclaims Ms. Gregg as an unfit mother and demands that Child Protective Services remove the children from their homes. Please let me ask each of you a question and please answer it honestly, have you ever lost track of a young child? Have you, as a young child, ever gotten lost or harmed because your childish wonder drove you to stray from your parents? The psychological damage that this community is doing to this woman and her family is astronomical and disgusting.

Here is the account of eye witness, Deirdre Lykins, posted on her facebook page:

I was taking a pic of the female gorilla, when my eldest son yells, “what is he doing? ” I looked down, and to my surprise, there was a small child that had apparently, literally “flopped” over the railing, where there was then about 3 feet of ground that the child quickly crawled through! ! I assumed the woman next to me was the mother, getting ready to grab him until she says, “Whose kid is this? ” None of us actually thought he’d go over the nearly 15 foot drop, but he was crawling so fast through the bushes before myself or husband could grab him, he went over! The crowed got a little frantic and the mother was calling for her son. Actually, just prior to him going over, but she couldn’t see him crawling through the bushes! She said “He was right here! I took a pic and his hand was in my back pocket and then gone!” As she could find him nowhere, she lookes to my husband (already over the railing talking to the child) and asks, “Sir, is he wearing green shorts? ” My husband reluctantly had to tell her yes, when she then nearly had a break down! They are both wanting to go over into the 15 foot drop, when I forbade my husband to do so, and attempted to calm the mother by calling 911 and assure her help was on the way. Neither my husband or the mother would have made that jump without breaking something! I wasn’t leaving with my boys, because I didn’t trust my husband not to jump in and the gorilla did just seem to be protective of the child. It wasn’t until the gorilla became agitated because of the nosey, dramatic, helpless crowd; that the gorilla violently ran with the child! And it was very violent; although I think the gorilla was still trying to protect, we’re taking a 400 lb gorilla throwing a 40 lb toddler around! It was horrific! The zoo responded very quickly, clearing the area and attempting to save both the child and the gorilla! The right choice was made. Thank God the child survived with non-life threatening, but serious injuries! This was an open exhibit! Which means the only thing separating you from the gorillas, is a 15 ish foot drop and a moat and some bushes! ! This mother was not negligent and the zoo did an awesome job handling the situation! Especially since that had never happened before! ! Thankful for the zoo and their attempts and my thoughts and prayers goes out to this boy, his mother and his family.

And another quote from eyewitness Brittany Nicely from the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the little boy in the bushes past the little fence area. I tried to grab for him. I started yelling at him to come back. Everybody started screaming and going crazy. It happened so fast.

Please gather sufficient evidence before passing judgement (or don't judge others at all and that would be nice too). Please do not presume to be an expert of animal behavior unless you are indeed an expert of animal behavior. Please give this mother the benefit of the doubt and stop this social media mob that is attempting to destroy Ms. Gregg and her family.