Things you can do besides point the finger
All over my Facebook feed people are sharing the commenting and sharing the loss of Harambe, who had just celebrated his 17th birthday and will soon be a father.He was shot and killed for the boy’s protection after the boy fell in the enclosure, which is a tragic ending for a horrifying event. I see people blaming the zoo and especially, and sadly, the mother.
Let’s remember what a gorilla can do, shall we? They can do this.
(Immediately after a little girl unknowingly taunted him by beating her chest.)
They can do this.
I’ve been vising western lowland gorillas my entire life. A critically endangered species, they hand out at both The San Diego Zoo and its Safari Park. They’re my dads favorite. And the scientific name for a western lowland gorilla is gorilla gorilla gorilla!)
So you are angry – what should you do?
- Don’t shame the mother. In my little crew, we had broken bones, broken teeth, and a burn on my own Wonder Boy that sent me to the ER at 6 months. If you weren’t there, you do not have an opinion.
- The Cincinnati Zoo is the second oldest zoo in the US -amazing! It is a non-profit organization and is currently is fundraising for an expansion of the gorilla exhibit. Go donate and make it a safer place for gorillas and people.
- The Western Lowland Gorilla critically endangered, but is the most common gorilla. Currently, the World Wildlife Fund has its population at possibly 100,000 individuals. Support their efforts to save the gorillas from loss of habitat due to deforestation, poaching, and the Ebola virus in places like The Republic of Congo, Cameroon, and African Central Republic by donating to WWF (you can even ‘adopt’ a gorilla and get a cute stuffy!)
- There’s other places to donate too. I mean, if you choose to eat at Rainforest Cafe and ask to sit by the gorillas, that’s fine. They support The Aspinall Foundation. But be sure to check out places like The Rainforest Alliance online as well.
- Educate yourself. Here, this will be easy for the whole family over at National Geographic Kids.
Note – this list can be altered for just about any situation. Yes, there are bad parents, and neglectful parents, and sometimes it is definitely the parent fault. But instead of pointing a finger, do something. It’s not your place to judge unless you’re involved.
May 30, 2016 @ 7:45 am
Thing is, if the mother had been watching her 4 year old son he would not have been able to climb through barriers and fall into the enclosure, this mother has also been charged with neglect in the past so I’m sorry but the finger should be pointed at her and she should be charged.
May 30, 2016 @ 8:53 am
I read a lot of articles before writing this and didn’t see one mentioning a history of that. I’d love to know where you got that information.
May 30, 2016 @ 4:25 pm
Look on twitter. Google it. Look at public records. It’s out there and if you can’t see it maybe you shouldn’t be talking about a topic you are not aptly educated on.
May 30, 2016 @ 5:51 pm
Hope maybe you should take your own advice. 🙂
May 30, 2016 @ 11:31 pm
What advice would that be? To look it up? All I’ve been doing is researching this topic because I am outraged because I myself, have actually adopted an infant Gorilla, so to see an endangered Gorilla die in captivity because of negligent parenting, is disgusting to me. I don’t know if you two are defending the mother or simply just arguing with me because you can but while I do think the Zoo could better facilitate their enclosures to prevent future accidents happening, I also believe that the mother, Michelle Gregg, should be charged and fined for negligence that lead to the unnecessary death of a beautiful, and endangered creature.
May 30, 2016 @ 7:05 pm
Yikes, regardless of weather or not the parent took their eyes off the child for even a full min (which is plenty of time for a 4yo to climb ANYTHING) the thing is NO parent thinks their child would jump or climb through an enclosure. Accidents happen and judging doesn’t help at all. I totally agree, I wasn’t there so there is no way I could form an opinion or judgment based on information from the internet. Someone’s past does not mean they are the same as they were before, so even if this parent did have a history of neglect you can’t know that they were being neglectful in this situation. I’m really glad you wrote this, I absolutly agree and think anyone who wants to point fingers has bigger problems and I’ll try not to judge them, but you know, it’s hard.