I wasn't going to comment to this thread because of the great deal of emotion involved, but there's an underlying theme to some of the comments that compels me. As many others have said, the entire ordeal is unfortunate, what I think should be accurately described as an accident. The part that bothers me the most, the underlying sentiment I referred to earlier, is the reflexive taking sides with Harambe.
Surely Harambe is innocent, acting according to his nature. Someone previously supported Harambe by invoking that he was removed from his natural habitat. What I have been able to discover is that the Cincinnati Zoo obtained Harambe from a zoo in Texas. The backdrop is that Harambe could no longer fit into the social environment at that zoo. The Cincinnati Zoo then took great care in isolating Harambe with two females to acclimate him. The females weren't chosen for breeding potential, but that psychologically were the best fit to transition Harambe. The detail important here is that the zoo in Texas was said to be Harambe's 'natal institution'. I don't have definitive documentation, but this suggests that Harambe wasn't born in the wild. Of course, being born in captivity doesn't suggest instant domestication, but thought it important since the idea that Harambe was ripped from the wild was being invoked as an appeal to emotion in arguing a side in this discussion. It's irrelevant and unnecessary.
As much as I hate what happened resulting in the death of Harambe, I really struggle with my attempt to understand those that seemingly would have preferred the death of the child. I think it was Steel early on that opined about how difficult it is keeping up with short people. Some children are risk takers and fearless. Two seconds of inattention is all it takes, two seconds. Two seconds and the little fearless discoverer is off to his/her next adventure. An eight year old has enough cognitive development to consider consequences, an adventurous risk taking four year old doesn't and will embark on any course of action he/she finds interesting.
The ideas shared about human encroachment on natural habitat is an excellent topic of conversation, but irrelevant to what happened in Cincinnati; however, since the subject was broached I challenge anyone to name another species that even recognizes its environmental impact or potential to cause extinction. If a pride of lion were to happen upon the last male and female zebra do you honestly think they will give any thought for the morrow and encourage them to fuck or will they be hell bent on the next meal?
Surely Harambe is innocent, acting according to his nature. Someone previously supported Harambe by invoking that he was removed from his natural habitat. What I have been able to discover is that the Cincinnati Zoo obtained Harambe from a zoo in Texas. The backdrop is that Harambe could no longer fit into the social environment at that zoo. The Cincinnati Zoo then took great care in isolating Harambe with two females to acclimate him. The females weren't chosen for breeding potential, but that psychologically were the best fit to transition Harambe. The detail important here is that the zoo in Texas was said to be Harambe's 'natal institution'. I don't have definitive documentation, but this suggests that Harambe wasn't born in the wild. Of course, being born in captivity doesn't suggest instant domestication, but thought it important since the idea that Harambe was ripped from the wild was being invoked as an appeal to emotion in arguing a side in this discussion. It's irrelevant and unnecessary.
As much as I hate what happened resulting in the death of Harambe, I really struggle with my attempt to understand those that seemingly would have preferred the death of the child. I think it was Steel early on that opined about how difficult it is keeping up with short people. Some children are risk takers and fearless. Two seconds of inattention is all it takes, two seconds. Two seconds and the little fearless discoverer is off to his/her next adventure. An eight year old has enough cognitive development to consider consequences, an adventurous risk taking four year old doesn't and will embark on any course of action he/she finds interesting.
The ideas shared about human encroachment on natural habitat is an excellent topic of conversation, but irrelevant to what happened in Cincinnati; however, since the subject was broached I challenge anyone to name another species that even recognizes its environmental impact or potential to cause extinction. If a pride of lion were to happen upon the last male and female zebra do you honestly think they will give any thought for the morrow and encourage them to fuck or will they be hell bent on the next meal?
