Cincinnati Zoo’s director Thane Maynard discussed the Harambe memes last week, saying: “We are not amused by the memes, petitions and signs about Harambe”.
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On almost every tweet recently put out on the official Cincinnati Zoo account there are dozens of vicious and sarcastic responses condemning the zoo for their actions that resulted in Harambe’s death.
The incident sparked worldwide outrage and has since then been subject to controversy, prompting angry tweets and petitions. While the zoo hasn’t come out with an explicit statement about what caused its Twitter shutdown, the cause and effect seems fairly obvious, especially when perusing the tens of thousands of Harambe-inspired “jokes” the zoo gets thrown at it every single day. “Our family is still healing, and the constant mention of Harambe makes moving forward hard for us”.
“We are not amused by the memes, petitions and signs about Harambe”.
The zoo was spammed with snarky replies when it posted on Twitter. He added that the internet’s Harambe obsession was making it more hard for the zoo community to move on.
At first the zoo appeared to be at least trying to ignore these jokes, hoping they would die down over time. He has grown the angel wings and halo of a deity in social media memorials.
If want to give meaning to Harambe’s life, Maynard said, there are certainly better ways, such as donating to the conservation effort.
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Animal rights activists and other critics said the shooting could have been avoided.
