Cincinnati Zoo's gorilla exhibit reopens

With a crowd of media and zoo visitors in attendance and a new barrier in place, the Cincinnati Zoo's Gorilla World exhibit reopened Tuesday morning.

"Today is a big day," Cincinnati Zoo director Thane Maynard told the assembled crowd of local and national media. "Cincinnati is ready to see gorillas again."

Gorilla World had been closed since the May 28 death of Harambe. Zoo officials shot the 17-year-old western lowland gorilla because he was dragging around the 3-year-old boy who climbed into the exhibit.

Remember Harambe by helping gorillas

The new fence, which is 42 inches high, includes wood beams on the top and bottom, with rope netting in between. Maynard said the same fencing is featured throughout most of the zoo.

He said the incident has brought safety in all parts of the zoo to the forefront of zoo officials' minds.

"I think you can imagine, we've gone through the zoo and everywhere that needs to be bolstered, we are doing it," he said.

As for the previous Gorilla World barrier, it had been in place for roughly 38 years and had passed regular inspections by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which regulates zoos, and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which accredits them, Maynard said.

"Nonetheless, we felt a new, bigger barrier helps reinsure our visitors and guests and redoubles our effort to make sure that our animals are safe and that our visitors are as well," he said.

Speaking to a USDA investigation into Harambe's death, Maynard said zoo officials expected it and will cooperate with investigators. In regard to an animal rights group's complaint, Maynard said the zoo "will certainly face up to that as well."

Another new feature in the exhibit Tuesday, albeit one that might not be permanent, is a glass case that holds cards and letters under the heading “Honoring Harambe.” One, accompanied by a child's drawing of a gorilla, bears the words "I'm sorry for you and everyone that loves you." A typed statement from keepers makes not of Harambe's "way of captivating visitors," his "hypnotizing swagger," his "pure strength & beauty."

Maynard said the zoo has heard from thousands of people and received hundreds of such notes. “I only got one that was snarky and mean-spirited,” he said.

"I can't go jogging, I can't go to the grocery store without people wanting to stop and talk about the gorillas and the zoo," he added.

One of the questions Maynard said he has heard the most is about the other gorillas' well-being. Chewie and Mara, 20-year-old half sisters who lived with Harambe, are "doing well," sleeping, eating and behaving normally, as is the zoo's other family group of eight gorillas headed by silverback Jomo, he said.

Also among the questions he's heard most is about the zoo's commitment to conservation. In answer, he said the zoo will "redouble" efforts in the Republic of Congo in West Africa to "make sure Harambe's death wasn't in vain."

Brittney Sparks of Alexandria was among the zoo visitors who went through Gorilla World Tuesday morning, with daughter Mackenzie, 5, and son Brody, 2, in tow.

"I think this is definitely 100 percent safer," she said of the new barrier.

As for the death of Harambe, she described the incident as a "lose-lose situation."

"It's honestly no one's fault. Accidents happen," she said.

Sparks said the incident won't deter her from renewing her zoo membership, which she has had for about five years, and said she hopes it won't deter others from visiting, either.

She also used it as a teachable moment for her daughter.

"I reiterated how important it is to stay by me and not to wander off," she said.

Zoo employees and volunteers were the first people allowed back into the exhibit, before the zoo opened Tuesday morning.

"Losing Harambe is just like losing a family member," Maynard said. "People that work at zoos care about their animals very much. So we are leaning on each other and sticking together. But of course, it's time to move on and see gorillas again."