{"id":95280,"date":"2016-05-31T14:17:09","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T18:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=95280"},"modified":"2016-05-31T14:23:42","modified_gmt":"2016-05-31T18:23:42","slug":"harambe-gorilla-tells-us-about-our-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/harambe-gorilla-tells-us-about-our-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"What Harambe the gorilla tells us about our culture"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Over Memorial Day weekend, the internet has been exploding with comments, articles, and rants related to the death of Harambe, the 17-year-old silverback gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo.<\/p>\n

While the entire situation was harrowing, terrifying, and tragic, what many of these vocalized opinions reveal\u00a0about our culture is infinitely troubling.<\/p>\n

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There’s not a legitimate debate over whether the little boy who crawled and fell into Harambe’s habitat would have died if the gorilla hadn’t been shot. CNN reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Officials made the decision to shoot Harambe because the boy was in “imminent danger.” They feared a tranquilizer would take too long to kick in, and the dart may have agitated the gorilla.<\/p>\n

“There was nobody getting that baby back from that gorilla — no one was taking him,” Hollifield [an eyewitness] said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Jack Hanna, world-renowned zookeeper and director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium stated<\/a> that he “agrees ‘1,000 percent'” with the zoo’s actions.<\/p>\n

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“They made the correct decision. Matter of fact, it’s a millisecond decision,” Hanna told “CBS This Morning<\/a>” Monday. “All of us are sorry. We’re all, in the zoo world, heartfelt for this whole thing but thank goodness a human being is alive today because of the decision that the zoo made.”<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And, very simply, that’s exactly what this entire situation came down to: to save a human life or not to save a human life. Notably, if the zoo had chosen to\u00a0not<\/em> shoot Harambe, and he had killed the boy, he would have had to be euthanized anyway. This wasn’t going to end well for the gorilla, period.<\/p>\n

But far more than an unfortunate incident or a tragic event that could have been even more tragic, Harambe’s death has revealed a number of troubling things about the way too many in our culture think:<\/p>\n

1. Animal life is revered while\u00a0human life is\u00a0discarded.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"harambe,<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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@ReportUK<\/a> Yeah, Those parents should be sent to the electric chair IMHO, and a gorilla put in charge of the power lever. #Justice4Harambe<\/a><\/p>\n

— Classified (@darnstadium) May 30, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n