The Nation - News from May 22, 1987

Hundreds of people have called police to complain about the shooting of two polar bears that killed a child who had climbed into a moat at New York’s Prospect Park Zoo, police said. The callers “couldn’t understand why police had to shoot the bears,” Sgt. Peter Sweeney said. The 11-year-old Brooklyn boy who was fatally mauled had entered the zoo with friends after closing hours. Sweeney said most callers asked: “Why did you have to shoot the bears? They weren’t doing anything wrong; the kids didn’t belong there.”