TRIAL BY SOCIAL MEDIA: Why #JusticeForHarambe Misses The Point

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Outrage continues to build amongst animal-lovers on social media today, after Cincinnati Zoo killed endangered gorilla Harambe, in efforts to rescue a four-year-old boy who fell into the animal’s enclosure.

This story is obviously unbelievably sad, with the life of a gorilla taken too soon- solely because of the impact of humans in his life.

Since the incident, an angry vengeful mob has emerged who are just flat-out pissed that the zoo killed Harambe. There’s now a ‘Justice For Harambe’ Facebook page already boasting over 100 thousand likes and an adjoining hashtag which has been gaining traction since the weekend.

There are many that have sought to romanticise the behavior of Harambe in the incident, with a chorus of “he was protecting the boy,” as if Harambe was about to pick up the child and pass him back to his mother in some Lion King-inspired gesture.

This is despite some pretty damning footage showing Harambe dragging the child through the surrounding moat with immense force, throughout the 10 minutes the boy was with the gorilla.

The Cincinnati Zoo’s director responded to critics and defended their actions, explaining that the boy was in serious danger. Speaking with the media during a press conference, he said:

“We’re talking about an animal that I’ve seen take a coconut with one hand and crush it.”

Even anthropologist Jane Goodall – the ultimate gorilla expert – reached out to the zoo director in support of the difficult decision to shoot Harambe.

While misinformed people have been quick to say that a tranquilizer gun should have been utilised, the zoo have said this was considered to be too dangerous as Harambe could have reacted badly and injured the toddler. This could have resulted in a far worse outcome.

Undoubtably, it was a difficult call for all involved and so much tougher for the zoo keepers and staff, whose hearts are completely shattered right now.

However, it seems there was no other option to ensure the boy wouldn’t be gravely harmed.

The hunt to find someone to blame has triggered an absurd Change.org petition calling for the parents to be held to account, gaining almost 400 thousand signatures.

The petition makes some serious and unsubstantiated accusations:

“It is believed that the situation was caused by parental negligence and the zoo is not responsible for the child’s injuries and possible trauma.We the undersigned want the parents to be held accountable for the lack of supervision and negligence that caused Harambe to lose his life.
“We the undersigned feel the child’s safety is paramount in this situation. We believe that this negligence may be reflective of the child’s home situation. We the undersigned actively encourage an investigation of the child’s home environment in the interests of protecting the child and his siblings from further incidents of parental negligence that may result in serious bodily harm or even death.
“Please sign this petition to encourage the Cincinnati Zoo, Hamilton County Child Protection Services, and Cincinnati Police Department hold the parents responsible.”

The petition is pretty much calling for the child to be potentially taken away from his parents – despite knowing absolutely nothing of the life of this child. All so he doesn’t climb in any more gorilla enclosures?

Responses to the news on social media have been pretty damn reckless, cut-throat and distinctly apathetic, with the mother and zoo that would already be suffering from the trauma, receiving death threats and even calling to be jailed.

Further coverage has accused the boy’s mother of negligence, with some witness saying that the boy warned his mother that he was going to get into the enclosure, while others have said it was an accident that could not have been prevented.

Other animal activist have pointed to the entirety of the system of animal captivity as the cause. This is despite Harambe being a critically endangered Western lowland silverback gorilla, and without zoos and other conservative projects, his species numbers may have fared much worse.

There are currently 765 gorillas in zoos worldwide, along with less than 175,000 in the wild.

https://twitter.com/mlangfordx/status/736724597941391360

Yes, it is wrong for extremely intelligent and sentient animals such as gorillas, and other primates, to be kept inside the confines of cages – which is unnatural to their habitat.

But the petition and this kind of ‘hashtivism’ won’t stop that.

It should be no secret that the majority of humans live, build their lives and make their money based on the exploitation of animals.

It’s a similar unfulfilled sentiment to last year’s witch-hunt for dentist Walter Palmer after he shot Zimbabwe’s beloved Cecil the Lion. The faceless public are quick to target someone to blame online, without actually engaging in the crux of the problem.

Just as trophy hunting continues today as those #CecilTheLion protesters have all but dissipated; an angry mob descending upon the parents – or the actions of the zoo – won’t bring Harambe back, or stop immensely intelligent animals being killed because of human intervention.

It’s just empty rhetoric, let’s put the pitchforks away.

Header via NY Daily News.