I'm sure all over your Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other social media sites you have seen the story of the Gorilla and the little boy at the Cincinnati Zoo earlier this week. For those of you that haven't seen it, here's what happened.
On Saturday, May 28th a three year old boy climbed through a barrier at the Gorilla exhibit. He then fell 10 to 12 feet into a moat, according to ABC News. A Silverback gorilla, named Harambe whose species is extremely endangered, was in the enclosure. Harambe then proceeded to “drag” the child around the moat and pick him up as well. The child suffered non-life-threatening injuries and according to his family, “Is doing just fine.” The zoo claims that it was a life threatening situation and had to take action to save the boy’s life. They shot and killed Harambe, the animal did not harm the boy but his size and strength posed the threat that decided Harambe’s fate.
There are multiple things that do not sit well with me in this story. One of the bigger issues is why was the child left unintended long enough to crawl into the barrier? Children are adventurous and do not see the danger that we, as adults do. Zoos are not playgrounds and a free-for-all for children. When I was little, I would do anything to play with the tigers in the zoo. I wanted to crawl into the exhibit and pet them. Obviously, I did not know the danger of being with an animal that size and strength. Zoos are not supposed to babysit your child either, you are responsible for yourself and your child. Parents are just not paying attention to what is going on. I am glad that the child is doing fine and will recover perfectly.
Another thing that is a big pressing issue is, why did they kill Harambe? The zoo claims that he was violently dragging the child around and posed a great threat to the child. If you watch the video Harambe holds the child’s hand and even is seen to be protecting the child. They also claimed that a tranquilizer would have taken too long to take effect. Which, is true in some cases. They said that tranquilizing it would only make it mad. This can be life threatening with the child being in the enclosure. This has happened previously with another situation where a female gorilla protected a child after they fell into the exhibit. Animals have emotions and instincts just like us humans do so it’s not a ridiculous claim that Harambe was protecting the boy, because he was. There was no need to kill Harambe. Actually, they murdered him for a mistake one of the visitors of the park made.
I could rant about this all day but what I really want to say is sorry to Harambe. I am sorry that for your short life you had to live in a concrete enclosure because us humans refuse to take action against our own faults for extinction. I am also sorry that your species is critically endangered and you had to suffer because of it. I am sorry that you had a wrongful death because they thought that it was the right thing to do at the time.
There are no excuses for what happened during this situation. None for the zoo or the family of that boy. Two innocent beings had to suffer because of this and I think the worst of all is that all of this could have been avoided. I am in no way an animal expert, just someone who is voicing an opinion.
If you would like to take action for this wrongful death, there are petitions that can be signed. Here is the link to direct you to one of the many petitions.
