Apparently millions of Americans are up in arms over the shooting of a lowland gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo last week.

In case you’ve been out of the country or living under a rock over the past several days, here’s what happened.

A 3-year-old boy somehow managed to get into the gorilla exhibit, and a large male gorilla grabbed the boy and proceeded to drag the boy around the exhibit. After studying the situation, the zoo’s own dangerous-animal response team decided the safest option was to shoot the gorilla. Those are the facts.

What’s followed is a series of armchair critics who have questioned practically every angle of the situation.

They’ve challenged zoo officials’ decision suggesting they should have tranquilized the animal instead. The problem is, zoo officials point out, that such an action could easily have agitated the animal because the sedation is not immediate, thus putting the boy in greater danger.

Critics — apparently the ones who either don’t have children or whose children are perfect — have questioned the boy and then his mother.

Good grief, 3-year-olds wander off from even the most watchful parents.

Yes, we understand the decision to kill the gorilla was a tough one, but it was a necessary one and a decision that those entrusted with the gorilla’s care agreed with making.

Will America’s legion of armchair critics, please put down your bullhorns for a minute and consider the value of human life?

This is a human being. It doesn’t matter how the boy got into the exhibit, the fact is the swift, but tough decision the zoo’s experts made, saved the boy’s life. That’s what matters.

All of the other griping and complaining is simply idle whining. A human life is more precious than an animal’s life, period.