Gorilla killed

[rexbeccarox]

And another thing.  Anyone know why this majestic creature was crammed into a tiny hole in the wall when it should have been out roaming 16 square miles of forest?

Huh?

Anyone?

Because of intruders killing them off and taking their land.

This. A human child intruded on the gorillas' small piece of land humans gave them, after removing them from their natural habitat, and then humans shot the gorilla on his own turf. I feel sorrier for Harambe's family than anyone else involved.

[ignoramus]

It was a horrible decision someone had to make! Glad it wasn't me! I couldn't live with myself.

Imagine an evil tyrant asks you to pick a child so he can kill one!
That gorilla was as much family as any human for those involved in his wellbeing.

[Aroura]

I sense some angry atheists. :p
I get it though, I honestly do. This is in no way fair. And no, seeing her child dragged around is simply not enough, she has clearly learned nothing. Not even an ounce of regret for the life her moment of inattention cost. No remorse, no self evaluation or introspection. It's really upsetting to see.

Sometimes, it is hard to keep faith in the human race at all.

[Cato]

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?

[IATIA]

I don't have definitive documentation, but this suggests that Harambe wasn't born in the wild.

And I had not suggested otherwise, but rather the propensity due to instinct and lack of domestication. It is still a caged animal that should be running free, but instead, it is caged to 'protect it from extinction'. (I have never been a fan of zoos. even as a kid. watching tigers pacing back and forth in a cage was very disheartening to me even as a child.)

I stand by my main point in all of this and that is, "What ever happened to responsibility?". She fucked up and a gorilla dies. She gets all the pity and glory. Oh, Wait! That must be what she was thanking god for. My bad.

[energizer bunny]

Sorry. That's a colloquial saying, though. I'm calling her a douche, but I thought it was clear by my previous statements that I 1) don't know this person and 2) am judging this specific action.

The action makes her a douche. I don't know her well enough to make an overall character judgement.

Fair enough then. Though I don't agree that being grateful to God when something good happens is a douchey thing for a believer to do.

I understand how you guys see the whole "thanks to God" thing as being narcissistic, I really do. But the point is others who believe differently may see it completely differently. As for us, we see thanking God as a sign of humility which is the complete opposite of narcissism. Personally when I thank God for something it reminds me how small and vulnerable I am to the universe and it makes me grateful for every second and every good thing I have, particularly because I know so many others don't have the same. Narcissism is the last thing from my mind. I feel unworthy and humbled, and it reminds me that I need to give back with what I was given. I mean, is that douchey??  

....That just goes to show how much we see and think differently. So I don't understand how you can assign your own way of thinking to others and then think they're douchey for it, when the way they see it is completely different. The point is I just feel like sometimes some of you can be as judgmental as the evangelicals you love to criticize.

Anyway, this was an off topic rant, so sorry. Sorry for the overall drama I started in this thread. I shouldn't be on AF so much right now. I need to go for a walk anyway.  

Back to the topic.... 

I hope you don't walk away. I felt a lot of your post was spot on. Especially that which i underlined.

[Silver]

I really struggle with my attempt to understand those that seemingly would have preferred the death of the child.

I followed you up to this retarded point.

None of us wished the death of the child, but some of us neither wished the death of the gorilla.

I actually agree with the assessment that the gorilla was actually acting in a manner to protect the child from the angry, screaming crowd above. You can disagree with that.

I will further state that there are powerful tranquilizers that are created to take an animal down quickly. Those taking the side of the zoo that state the tranquilizers would take up to thirty minutes to take effect are utter retards.

Again, you can be a douche in disagreeing with me, you can be retarded in disagreeing with me. It is your right to have your own opinion.

[Gemini]

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. 

One memory I'll always have is of my oldest, when he was four. We were walking on the sidewalk, and he suddenly decided to dart toward the street just as a car was coming. I had about a second to lunge forward and catch him by the straps of his overalls.

[Seraphina]

I've read some of the news stories on the incident and I've come away with a few impressions:

-There's a lot of mom-on-mom judging going on in the social media sphere. I stay out of that Mommy-mafia shit as much as possible.

-I'm not a gorilla whisperer and I've no idea from the short, shaky and out of focus cell phone video whether this lowland gorilla was protecting or harming the child. I have seen people in the beautiful wilderness areas of my state who have a profound misunderstanding of the unpredictability of Mother Nature and animals. Families who go into the desert in summer for a visit with little water and no maps, assuming their GPS will lead the way. Maybe they've watched too many DisneyNature films where all the animals are friendly with human-like qualities and there's always a happy and satisfying ending.

-It's hypocritical to decry this zoo putting down the gorilla yet stay silent on the capture and confinement of wild animals for humans to gawk at.

[Losty]

All these people shaming the mom for not keeping track of her kid clearly have never been around a fucking toddler before. Anybody who has been in charge of one of those buggers for more than 5 minutes can attest that they are constantly trying to murder themselves. Also, parents lose track of their children all the time--in the supermarket, in the mall, in their house, even.

She was a bit of a douche in thanking God for saving her kid, and not even saying anything remorseful about that beautiful animal that got shot so her kid could live, but calling her a shitty mom is overkill, IMO.

I shame the zoo. Shame on them for not protecting the animals they imprison. They knew if someone got in there they'd have to kill that gorilla. Yet they didn't take the necessary precautions to be sure no one could get in. And that's shameful.