The Incident Involving Harambe the Gorilla

The killing of Harambe, the gorilla in the Cincinnati Zoo on May 16, 2016, based on the assumption that he may have injured a person was a reminder of the fact that the life of a human will always take precedence over an animal’s no matter what the circumstances.

Harambe was not at fault for his death.

A three-year old boy fell in the moat at the Cincinnati Zoo, USA on the afternoon of May 28, 2016. At the time there were three gorillas. Harambe (17-year-old endangered lowland male gorilla) was intrigued by the child splashing around in the water. He went to investigate. Harambe was agitated by the screaming crowd and pulled the child out of the water.

The zoo officials were concerned for the child’s safety and called the zoo shooter. Harambe was killed. Harambe was shot dead by a zoo official, Mr Holloway. Although the zoo had been criticized for not doing enough to save Harambe and the child, he said that the crowd’s screams had agitated Harambe.

Animals are more entertaining than they are important to us.

Harambe’s death was not his fault. He died because of our belief in human priority and because we treat animals like objects of entertainment. If his enclosure had been designed with the safety of gorillas in mind, rather than the public’s interests or even better, by excluding the public so that Harambe and the rest of his group could continue to conserve their species without interference, he might still be alive.