I'm usually known for having the unpopular opinion on most of the topics I discuss with others. Quite often I'm chastised and have my intelligence questioned because I disagree with others. Generally, this is how I feel when having a discussion, or even finding myself in an argument...
Well, this time is no different. I'll be discussing my thoughts and opinions about what happened at the Cincinnati Zoo. If you somehow haven't heard, here's a brief summary: A child fell into the gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo, and the zookeepers and response team (as a last resort) shot the 400+ lbs. male gorilla, Harambe, that was holding the child, as well as swinging him around and dragging him through the moat at the bottom of the exhibit. Very quickly, articles and news reports began going viral, and naturally, the info and opinion wars began shortly after.
Now, I'm not going to spend time shoving information down your throat. The story has been investigated and is still being investigated so that the police and zookeepers can have a full understanding of what happened. Ultimately, I'm going to be explaining why I'm disgusted with the way people have been reacting and why this story should have been treated completely different from the way it has been. People have been trying to post blame and seek some sort of justice, when ultimately we should all come together and understand this was a tragic event. No one wins with this story, and it seems that the opinions of the general public only want to make the situation worse. The rest of this article is a reality check that you may need:
YOU ARE NOT EXPERTS ON THE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THIS STORY
Everyone seems to suddenly have expert knowledge and opinions on the entirety of the situation. Unless you actually are an expert, you have no right to say what the actual experts did was right or wrong. Yes, it's more than possible that you could have a basic knowledge of various animals, but that does NOT make you any sort of professional by ANY means. You may have kids, and they may be doing well, but every parent has their own style of parenting. There is no one perfect way to do it. You've been to a zoo? That's neat. What knowledge do you have on the design of the exhibits and habitats? You think they should have just tranquilized the gorilla? How many gorillas have you tranquilized?
You can not suddenly act as if you know the perfect solution or alternative to what happened. The reason what happened did happen is because the EXPERTS took the necessary actions to respond to this emergency. In no way did anyone benefit from the child falling into the exhibit. In no way did anyone win by killing Harambe, the gorilla. The zoo expressed how terrible this tragedy was, but they also expressed how necessary this was to avoid an even worse situation.
In recent years, it seems that it is more acceptable to form an opinion based off of feelings, rather than research and facts. And, similar to what happens too often to me, when an opinion is formed based on fact, those who base their opinions off of feelings attack those who have looked at details and read through articles and stories. This applies mostly to the decision in this story- should the zookeepers have shot the gorilla, or should they have tranquilized it? After trying other methods to distract the gorilla and save the child, the final decision was made to shoot the gorilla. Animal rights activists and what seems like a plethora of others seem to disagree with the decision, and say that the gorilla should have just been tranquilized.
The bottom line is, we need to seek the professionals' opinions and try to understand why they take the actions that they take. Trying to tranquilize Harambe would have put the child in WAY more danger than he was already in. The tranquilizer dart would take about five to ten minutes to even take affect and would have only angered the gorilla until it did. The experts knew this and made the sad decision to do what needed to be done. Other experts have come out and expressed how they agree with the zoo's decision. Here is one of the more viral examples.
YOU CAN NOT BLAME THE MOTHER FOR THIS HAPPENING
The tranquilizer argument aside, the next one is that the mother should have been watching her child more. This has to be the most disheartening thing I've ever heard. You can NOT always blame a parent for a child's actions. Firstly, saying this seems to imply that you don't even care that a child could have died. That's what this whole story is- a child could have died from a gorilla ripping him apart and bashing his skull in. Saying that the mother should have been watching him better is not even an argument. Here's why:
If this is your argument, then what you probably don't know is that witnesses have come forth saying that the child was asking the mother to go down into the water, and the mother repeatedly told him no. The mother was well aware that he wanted to go down there. She knew he had an interest in going down there and probably explained to him that he's not allowed, that it would be dangerous for him to do so. Here's the thing- NO FOUR YEAR OLD CHILD IS A PERFECT LISTENER AND DOES WHAT THEIR PARENTS SAY. Not even your own. The child slipped through without permission; he disobeyed his mother.
This was not a case of child neglect. Nor was this a case of a child who is not disciplined enough. The gates and fences at the zoo are designed to show where you can no longer continue forward into the exhibit. Any adult can easily climb over them, and any small child has the potential to sneak through. The boy was told no and disobeyed his mother; it's literally as simple as that. The other side of the argument being "this would not have happened if she was watching her child."
Have you ever watched a child?!? It's so easy for you to lose track of one. You can look away quite literally for five seconds, and a child could disappear completely. If you've ever played hide and seek with a child you were babysitting, you'd know exactly what I mean. There's a reason parents have panic attacks when they don't see their kids anywhere. Kids get into all sorts of trouble all the time. It's amazing that daycare and preschool teachers don't have heart attacks on the regular. Now you're probably asking "If it's so easy to lose track of a kid, why wasn't the mother watching him when he got through the gate?" It probably had something to do with the fact that they were in a zoo. Perhaps the mother was looking at the exhibit briefly for her own enjoyment. No one knows for sure except for those involved. But, it's a sure bet that she wasn't just letting her kid run around wild. Especially having already told him he can't go into the exhibit.
Anyone casting blame on the mother, or the child for that matter, should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. A mother had the potential to lose her child in what is probably one of the most freaky and violent ways possible. If the only thing you got out of this story was "a gorilla was shot," then perhaps you need to brush up on your people skills and learn what emotions really are. If you feel any sort of anger or hatred about what happened, it is understandable. But, to cast it towards the two people who were most affected by what happened shows how much empathy and compassion our modern day society lacks. Again, no one won in this situation. The only emotions and feelings that should be expressed here are sadness, empathy and sorrow. This was a tragedy. Remember that.
YOU CAN NOT BLAME THE ZOO FOR WHAT HAPPENED EITHER
Regardless, the zoo is not at fault for anything. The Cincinnati Zoo has been open since 1875. Obviously, the modern exhibits have been updated and refurbished for safety and protection of its employees and visitors alike. You seriously can not expect the zoo to suddenly shut down and make alterations to every exhibit for even more gates and fences around them. That's perhaps the most ridiculous request to come from this whole thing.
Zoos take every precaution and safety measure they can already; probably more than you can even imagine. From what I understand, this was the first incident like this to happen at the Cincinnati Zoo, and even still it was a freak-incident. There is no blame to be thrown anywhere, especially not the zoo.
THE PEOPLE ARE HANDLING THIS POORLY, AND I'M DISGUSTED BY IT
As humans, we should come together in time of tragedy. It's disgusting how much we have separated ourselves as a country. I've been mentally preparing for a second Civil War for a couple of years now. I'm not sure what we'll be fighting over, but it will happen if we continue to act as we have been. We've taken a tragedy and turned it into a politically correct debate. Not only that, but it has blown way out of proportion. I'm imagining there was a time where a story like this would get out, and everyone would make a sad face, talk about how terrible it is, and continue with their day. Now, we can't go five minutes without someone trying to explain why they are right or wrong, and what evidence backs up what theories. Not only that, but something like this should not cover up what real issues we have going on in our country.
IN CONCLUSION
If you are someone who has participated in any of the actions I've described, I highly suggest you reevaluate your actions. It's sickening to see how animalistic people have gotten over this, and how much anger and hatred has derived from it. Again, this was a tragedy where no one is at any fault; there is no blame to be given. Express your sorrows and move on. What happened has happened, and we can not change it. We can learn from what has happened, but there will not be much to learn from the situation. The reaction, however... I hope we can learn much from that.
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