Gorilla Lives Matter

Harambe was a gorilla, living a quiet life in the Cincinnati Zoo.

While a gorilla is capable of making enemies, Harambe never had much of a chance to do that, living in an enclosed prison for the better part of his life. His only crime was being a gorilla.

Still, no one would call him "gentle".

Certainly not the 4-year old boy who fell 15 feet into Harambe's enclosure, and got dragged through the water by Harambe.

Regardless, some experts have said Harambe clearly did not intend harm to the boy. If anything, he was protecting the boy, in the only way gorillas know how. In the wild, you don't protect the young with half measures. There are no "child-proof gates", or anti-bacterial toys, or baby room radios, or any of the crap we humans take for granted. To a gorilla, protecting the young means keeping them with you, even dragging them along if they give you a hard time. A gorilla protects young by keeping himself between the child and the outside world.

Gorillas don't have the luxury of checking their Facebook, or taking photos, or ignoring one child for another. They have to watch their offspring 24/7/365. If they don't, there are plenty of predators that will happily feed on their offspring. Also, gorillas have to be strong enough to fend off things like jungle cats. But they also have to be gentle enough not to damage their own children even as they try to protect them.

Harambe had not yet reached reproductive maturity, being only one day short of 17 years old. But he did as well as could be expected of a stranger who came across a young child in his enclosure. He let his instincts kick in, and he stood guard over the child. He moved the child when he felt threatened by the unusual screams coming from scared humans (if you think gorillas don't have a healthy fear of humans, think again). At no time did Harambe feel threatened by the boy.

Harambe wasn't the child's father, but he followed nature's law to always respect the young of others. One can argue that Harambe's strength was a danger to the boy, but never his motive.

For this, Harambe was shot and killed. Not for what he did, but for what he MIGHT do, even unintentionally.

I write this not to lay blame on the parents, or the zookeepers, or anyone. I am not trying to suggest there was a better action in hindsight. But don't try to sell me that this was the gorilla's fault. Harambe came across an innocent child, and tried to protect him the only way a gorilla knows how.

And we murdered him.