My Comments on Death of Harambe and What You Can Do

[Richard W. Firth]

　

I have come to the conclusion that the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical
Garden is fully responsible for the VERY UNNECESSARY death (to me it
fits the term Â"murderÂ") of Harambe, that poor innocent gorilla who
was forced into a situation beyond his control and confused by the
screams of the crowd and all the activity that pursued.

The Cincinnati Zoo and all zoos are clearly to blame for whatever
deaths or injuries that result when improper contact is made between
humans and the wild animals under their care. A wild animal should not
be forced to live its entire life in captivity resulting in nearly
solitary confinement conditions as they do in zoos just to satisfy
selfish humanly desires to look at them for pleasure or study. Forcing
animals to live such a life is completely contrary to their normal
pattern of living and in too many cases causes psychological problems
producing debilitating behavior which can result in expressions of
outrage ending in death and injuries to visiting humans or zoo
employees. Just to preserve a species in total confinement like this
is cruel and unusual punishment to the animal to say the least.

Ask yourself if you would like to live the rest of your life like
this. It would be far better to place such wildlife in a sanctuary
where they have adequate space to survive normally and be with others
of their species to maintain normal social behavior as many species
require.

Worst of all this zoo and too many others are guilty of numerous
animal welfare violations, many of which are never corrected or even
prosecuted. The Natural Bridge Zoo in Virginia, for example has been
cited over 50 times in the past 20 years or more with no real action
taken to correct the problems for which they have been cited. The
Cincinnati Zoo according to a report by Mercy for Animals has been
cited at least twice for such violations, one of which could have
caused death or serious injury to any employee or other human if any
animal escaped through your failure to totally secure a certain area.

When I looked at sketches of the second barrier of trees the
Cincinnati Zoo had in place there seemed to be plenty of space between
them for a child to easily get through. The zoo should have planted
very thick bramble bushes so thick no one could or would want to
penetrate.

All zoos including the Cincinnati Zoo need to be shut down now and
the animals sent to sanctuaries where they can live the rest of their
lives as nature intended them to do free to roam and do the things
wild animals normally do without interference from man.

Harambe did not have to die. If anyone had to die for any fatality of
human life at the Cincinnati Zoo that day it should have been the
execution squad of that zoo as they are fully responsible as well as
any other execution squads at other zoos for the problems they cause
FORCING ANIMALS TO LIVE LIVES VIRTUALLY IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT,
MISERY AND ABUSE. THEREFORE IT TIME TO SET YOUR CAPTIVES FREE BY
SENDING THEM TO ACCREDITED ANIMAL SANCTUARIES. People including
employees along with too many animals die unnecessary deaths at places
like this zoo and others because of these facts so now is the time to
stop the deaths and place the animals where they want to be, no longer
caged, mistreated and abused along with having outbursts of rage that
can result in lethal consequences to the public, including zoo
employees.

I have written the zoo that they are fully responsible for what
happened and made recommendations to them to shut it down and send all
the animals to accredited animal sanctuaries.

Further action you can take:

In Defense of Animals suggests writing the Mayor of Cincinnati the following:

"I am deeply moved by the recent shooting of Harambe the western lowland gorilla in your city of Cincinnati. Cincinnati Zoo has proved itself unable to adequately protect members of the public or even the animals it holds captive. Please relocate the remaining gorillas to a sanctuary - for their sake and ours.

"Cincinnati Zoo has reportedly reopened the gorilla enclosure with higher barriers and more netting. This isn't good enough.

"Zoos are ultimately responsible for the death of Harambe, and the deaths of thousands more animals like him. Zoos keep producing baby animals to keep paying customers coming through the gates, and they are killed when they are no longer needed. They will never be returned to the wild.

"Cincinnati Zoo must face justice. It is not fit to care for gorillas.

"As Mayor of Cincinnati, please take urgent, decisive action for the gorillas and the public. Your voice can make a difference in this situation and be the driving force to ensure that future incidents like this never occur again.

"The remaining gorillas must be relocated to a sanctuary where they can live out their lives without threat.

"I look forward to hearing about how you will lead your city in this effort."

Contact Information for Mayor of Cincinnatti:

Mayor John Cranley 513-352-3250 [e-mail]

You can also e-mail the Cincinnatti Zoo by clicking on the following link:

http://cincinnatizoo.org/about-us/contact-us/