Astonishing new footage shows gorilla 'PROTECTING' boy and holding his hand before being shot dead

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

6. I'm sorry

I found the story too heart breaking to read, and hadn't. Still haven't.

At the Toledo Zoo, when I was 6, they had a chimpanzee exhibit with sort of velvet ropes not too far back from a cage , which was just barred. I went under the ropes and was hand feeding peanuts to the chimps and shaking hands with one, when another grabbed my arm pulled me hard up against the bars and bit my bicep, making me need 5 stitches. Scared me more than anything. As I was being led away to the nurses station, a zoo employee went into the cage with a whip and beat all 3 chimps.

I'll never forget their screams and the feeling that it was my fault, not theirs. I've always had a much softer spot for animals well being and protection, than most folks I know. Maybe because of that incident.

I'm sorry my intentional ignorance has seemed to offend some of you. I'm still not ready to read the accounts, and may not ever.