The Cincinnati Zoo shot and killed a western lowland gorilla on Saturday after a 4-year-old boy slipped into the animal’s enclosure, a zoo official said at a news conference. The decision follows weeks of relentless harassment for fatally shooting the 440-pound gorilla that grabbed 3-year-old boy who snuck into its enclosure. Fearing the boy could be dragged around and drowned in the moat surrounding Harambe’s home, zoo officials made a decision to kill the gorilla.
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Hundreds of online petitions have surfaced, including calls to rename the Cincinnati Bengals the Harambes, create an emoji in his honor and canonize him.
Cincinnati Zoo has deleted its social media accounts after being inundated with people making jokes and memes about its controversial decision to shoot dead gorilla Harambe.
Michelle Curley, zoo spokeswoman, said Sunday that zoo staff still don’t have full control over Thane’s account.
Some say that it is due to genuine anger over the way the zoo handled the situation while others think it’s just evidence of the dark sense of humour that pervades the internet.
He’s even been mock-nominated for president.
“We are not amused by the memes, petitions and signs about Harambe”, Maynard told the Associated Press.
The zoo still has social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook. And now, it appears, the zoo has had enough – its Twitter and Facebook accounts are no longer active as of Monday night.
On Tuesday, FOX 19 NOW learned that the Cincinnati Zoo has deactivated its Twitter page.
“We are not amused by the memes, petitions and signs about Harambe”. He added that the internet’s Harambe obsession was making it more hard for the zoo community to move on. For most people online, Harambe is a fun bit.
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“At first, the petitioners had good intentions”, he wrote.
