Everyone remembers the tragic story of Harambe, the Cincinnati Zoo gorilla who zoo workers shot and killed to save the life of a small child who’d fallen into Harambe’s enclosure. Unfortunately, history might just be repeating itself in your sister’s living room: Grandma won’t let go of your sister’s new baby.
Not good. This is not good at all.
Everyone at the family gathering was taking their turn holding Ellie, your sister’s infant daughter, until your grandmother got ahold of the baby and refused to let anyone take her away, hurrying from corner to corner of the living room anytime your sister or her husband attempted to regain control of their child. Over 45 minutes have passed, and although Grandma’s body language suggests she feels protective towards Ellie—with one hand clutching the baby close to her chest and the other perched on her walker for balance as she feebly scampers away from intervening family members—every second that passes with someone as frail and unsteady as Grandma cradling Ellie just increases the risk of something going horribly wrong.
The clock is ticking, and that means a decision needs to be made soon, because unless Grandma puts the baby down of her own volition, there may be no choice but to resort to tranquilizing her with a syringe of warm milk to the neck, or worse…lethal force. In fact, your uncle already has a rifle locked and loaded, and should the situation escalate, your sister and brother-in-law may be forced to give him the go-ahead to compromise Grandma if it means their baby’s safety.
This is getting bad. The last thing anyone wants is to turn Grandma into Harambe 2.0, but she’s not giving the family many options.
Ugh, what a horrifying situation. The worst thing anyone can do right now is make Grandma feel threatened, so the whole family is doing their best to stay calm as possible to avoid making Grandma aggressive. Let’s pray that Grandma gets tired and falls asleep on the couch soon like she usually does at family parties, because all anyone wants is to get Ellie out of her possession without either of them getting hurt.
