The animal expert and the likely GOP presidential candidate say the Cincinnati Zoo had no choice but to shoot Harambe.
Not one to keep quiet during a national controversy Donald Trump is weighing in on the decision of the Cincinnati Zoo to kill a gorilla after a child fell inside its enclosure.
Read: Mother of Child Who Fell Into Gorilla Enclosure Defends Herself: 'Accidents Happen'
When asked Tuesday whether he would have killed the gorilla, Trump said: “I think it's a very tough call. They probably didn't have a choice. You have a child, a young child, who is at stake and you know, it’s too bad there wasn’t another way."
He added: "I thought it was so beautiful to watch that powerful, almost 500-pound gorilla, the way he dealt with that little boy, But it just takes one second. It’s one second. It’s not like it takes place over, well, ‘he’s going to do it 30 seconds from now.’ It takes one little flick of his finger, and I will tell you, they probably had no choice.”
Renowned animal expert Jack Hanna says the zoo had no choice but to shoot Harambe, the 17-year-old gorilla.
Hanna told Inside Edition: "You don’t have seconds or minutes to make a decision like this. When the animal blows, it is like lightning. I will bet my life on this, that that child would have been – I don’t even want to tell you what would have happened.
"The boy had no chance whatsoever. The boy should thank God every single day of his life. This gorilla was not happy."
The woman who shot the video, Kimberley O’Connor, is coming to the defense of the embattled mom, Michelle Gregg, after her 4-year-old climbed into the enclosure.
“They don't know what the mother did, what she didn't do [or] how panicked she was. They don't know what that animal was going to do with that little boy or what he could have done,” she told Inside Edition.
She says she posted the video because of the criticism being aimed at the zoo and the mother.
“I only released the video so people could see that the boy was in danger,” O’Connor said.
The embattled mom posted a message defending herself: "As a society, we are quick to judge how a parent could take their eyes of their child. And if anyone knows me I keep a tight watch on my kids. Accidents happen."
