As you’ve probably heard by now, a 400-pound gorilla named Harambe was shot and killed by officials at the Cincinnati Zoo on Saturday to protect a young boy who had somehow fallen into the exhibit’s moat.
According to a witness quoted in the Daily Mail, the kid just wanted to get in the water:
The small child said he wanted to get in the water before the incident, to which the mother, who was also watching several other children, replied: ‘No, you’re not, no, you’re not,’ according to one witness Kim O’Connor.
Well, mission accomplished.
Video shared to social media of the accident shows the endangered ape dragging the kid through the water for a reported 10 minutes before the zoo security team took action:
A gorilla has been shot dead after a boy fell into its zoo enclosure. The 4-year-old is set to make a full recovery.https://t.co/9VSauoap7D
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) May 29, 2016
Many blame the mom for the gorilla’s death:
The Gorilla was doing a better job watching the little boy than the Mom was. Give the gorilla custody of the child
— . (@SadderDre) May 29, 2016
Mother of that child should be charged with neglect – SUPERVISE YOUR KIDS PEOPLE! NOW AN ENDANGERED GORILLA IS DEAD https://t.co/Eko2ehukiO
— KITTY CAT (@MorningStarBird) May 29, 2016
INNOCENT HARAMBE KILLed by stupid humans…
Boycott all Zoos #RIPHarambe https://t.co/17sKBae3No— Lisa Bellefleur (@FloortjeBellefl) May 29, 2016
Should say: 'details on the callous murder of a innocent creature, due to gross parental negligence' https://t.co/qfWlbYGwUY
— Alex (@AlexGiovanni_) May 29, 2016
https://twitter.com/tomfromspiced/status/736969779488129024
PETA, however, blames the zoo for not securing the enclosure:
1/4 Yet again, captivity has taken an animal's life. The enclosure should have been surrounded by a secondary barrier to prevent this.
— PETA (@peta) May 29, 2016
Both are fair criticisms.
But are you ready for the hottest of hot-takes? Here’s singer Isa Ibn on why he thinks Harambe had to die:
That gorilla was taken from it's homeland, put in captivity, and then killed to preserve White life. That sounds familiar.
— Joshua J. Muhammad (@isaibnthagod) May 29, 2016
Other than the fact that Harambe was born born at the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas and the kid who fell in the moat was black, this tweet nails it!
https://twitter.com/hboulware/status/737007423429312512
Assumptions and generalities, the basic tools of a garden variety racist. Gorilla born in zoo and child was black. https://t.co/Dsfr7ejjot
— William Keane (@largebill68) May 29, 2016
https://twitter.com/Spacebunnyday/status/737013273866960896
https://twitter.com/mattbramanti/status/737008930027507712
LMFAOOOOOO BROOOOOOOO. It was was a Black life! ??? https://t.co/vdD8nUnqRn
— The Real Wavey Crockett. (@Machometus_) May 29, 2016
Ibn now realizes the 4-year-old was black, but why ruin a good tweet?
The tweet started doing numbers. I wasnt about to delete it lol https://t.co/WF9ELlP0un
— Joshua J. Muhammad (@isaibnthagod) May 29, 2016
But why should fact matter now?
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