1 Jun 2016

I'm Sorry, Harambe.


I do not believe in mob justice. I do NOT believe in selective dissemination of news. I believe that armchair warriors sitting at their keyboards and generating hate for fame or for fun do much more harm while disseminating information on social media (which has become the number one source of news for more people that I’d care to find out) than good. I believe that calling for the mother’s blood or pulling up the father's prison records or being racist or making all those comments about how they look without being informed of the facts is just plain wrong. Let's talk ONLY about what is relevant in the situation, shall we? What were the parents doing when the child was crawling off? I could not find a definitive answer.  

A few other questions that I invite anyone who deems themselves fit to answer to take a stab at. I have come to my own conclusions but I assure you, I ask with an open mind and I am ready to accept valid answers even if they are contrary to what I believe.   

• It is CINCI-FUCKING-NNATI zoo. The second oldest in the US, apparently. How did they not have protective enclosures in a place frequently visited by children and adults (who have been known to do idiotic things throughout history) of all ages?  

• People make mistakes, mothers make mistakes. Some of those mistakes haunt mothers for the rest of their lives. Bringing up one child safe and sane may be more than what I am capable of and she has four of them. BUT. She is said to have been taking a picture, the kid’s hand was in her pocket as a “safety measure”. (Another version of this is that her other child was crying and she was trying to console her; either way, ARE. YOU. SERIOUS??!!)

• How did the child have enough time to crawl unsupervised to where he fell over from by ANY adult in the vicinity (including zoo staff)? Toddlers ARE surprisingly quick, I know, but NOBODY saw the child streaking off to the gorilla's impending doom?

• I understand that the tranquilizer they had would have taken time to work/ agitated Harambe further/ caused him to keel over onto the child. WHY DID THEY NOT HAVE SHOTS WHICH WERE MORE POTENT?! How did they not take precautions to stock up on meds that would work instantly, considering there was an 440-pound (about 200 kgs) silverback western lowland gorilla running around in what-looks-like a deep but open enclosure?

• Why wasn’t the area cleared immediately by support staff to make sure that the crowds did not agitate Harambe into a certainly more dangerous disposition? 

• It ended up being a choice between a human life and an animal life. Who gave us the right to choose one over the other? 

• Lastly, I have a couple of statistics for you: 
Sources of Information: and 2