On May 28, a rare gorilla was shot and killed in its enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo. The reason for this mess? A toddler was able to crawl and climb over protective railings, wires, and a moat. Harambe and the toddler spent several minutes together before the call was made to fatally shoot the gorilla. Now, I'm not here to say whether or not the zookeepers made the right decision. I am not a zoologist, and I definitely don't understand how silverback gorillas behave. I do know, however, that this was preventable, and there is much more to learn and take away from this situation.

There's obviously two parties to blame in this situation. The zookeepers and the parents. Those zookeepers have a job and a duty to keep those animals safe and healthy. I hope this incident will open the zookeepers' eyes, and that this won't happen ever again. There is no excuse for what happened, a toddler should not be able to get into any enclosure. For the parents: please keep a closer eye on your children when they are in a place full of wild animals. This part of the situation seems to be overlooked. The fact that this child was able to get past three protective barriers, let alone one, is appalling. When you decide to take your child to the zoo you need to keep an eye on them at all times. Some animals are not protected by three different barriers like Harambe, so it's crucial that they are constantly being watched.

This also brings up the idea of not capturing and displaying animals for profit. Yes, some animals from zoos are rescued, and may not be able to go back into their natural environments due to injuries. Yet, if people were saving endangered and rescued animals out of the kindness of their hearts, these animals would not be displayed for profit. There wouldn't be places to eat, and rest, and watch the animals if zoos weren't made for human enjoyment and profit. But at the end of the day, the majority of animals in zoos are not "endangered" or "rescued." The regard for animals' lives is so small. Look at Harambe; he was imprisoned by humans and is constantly surrounded by hundreds of humans each day. I would probably be a little confused or unhappy if a human came into my artificial, man-made environment too. No one seems to be talking about how he may have felt in the situation, and why his behavior was totally valid and natural.

This all comes back to one lesson that I think I have passed onto to my family and friends over time. Zoos are bad. It's plain and simple. You may think it'll be a fun activity for the family, but it shouldn't be. These places were created to imprison animals and turn that imprisonment into profit. The reason why people were so worried for the child is because Harambe was a wild animal. Wild animals don't belong in cages and artificial environments; and they most definitely do not belong near a three-year-old boy. There's plenty of other activities to do with your family; and you can teach your children the value of animals' lives when you have to inevitably explain to your kids why you won't go to the zoo. If you don't go, you don't support this industry and your child is at no risk of being "hurt" by a rare silverback gorilla.

At the end of the day I can't say whether or not the decision to kill Harambe was right or wrong. But this situation needs to open everyones' eyes to the bigger picture. This wouldn't keep happening if animals weren't enclosed in fake environments. We need to stop contributing to an industry that is heartless and inhumane. That is what we need to learn from this situation, and that is how we stop this from happening again.