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Cincinnati Zoo Shuts Down Facebook and Twitter Due to Harambe Memes

The 17-year-old male western lowland gorilla was shot after a three-year-old boy fell into his enclosure after climbing over a barrier that has since been heightened.

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Communications Director Michelle Curley confirmed that the zoo deleted its Twitter accounts Monday but did not provide any additional details.

In another blow, on Saturday Mr Maynard’s Twitter account was hacked and numerous tweets about Harambe were sent, with one including a lewd Harambe hashtag that has been widely used on the internet.

The move comes a day after the Cincinnati Zoo said it was “not amused” by the flood of comments jokes, memes and mentions of Harambe – the gorilla – on its micro-blogging website page, Time.com reported on Tuesday.

Maynard recently told The Associated Press by email that the zoo family is “still healing”.

The Cincinnati Zoo is asking Harambe fans to consider donating to or working toward gorilla conservation rather than posting dumb jokes on the internet. This week, both were deactivated after Cincinnati zoo pleaded for the memes to stop.

However, telling the internet to cool down their Harambe memes is like throwing gasoline to a fire.

The Cincinnati Zoo has had enough of social media.

Deleting their accounts may seem extreme but under the circumstances, Forbes believes that it is their best course of action.

The zoo was spammed with snarky replies when it posted on Twitter.

Mr Maynard’s Twitter photo was also changed to one of Harambe before the account was recovered.

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The zoo still has social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook.

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