11) Harambe – The Exasperated Historian

11: Harambe the Gorilla

Gorilla Whose Tragic Death Became One of the Biggest Internet News Stories of All Time

Born: 27 May 1999, Brownsville, Texas, United States of America

Died: 28 May 2016, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America

Harambe was a western lowland silverback gorilla. He was born at the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, and came to live at the Cincinnati Zoo in 2014.

At the time of Harambe’s death, he weighed approximately 450 pounds and was one of ten gorillas living at the zoo. As of 2019, western lowland gorillas are considered critically endangered in the wild, with only about 95,000 to 125,000 existing in the wild (sources differ). That same year, approximately 765 of the species existed in zoos around the world.

Harambe was killed as a result of a tragic accident at the Cincinnati Zoo. In May of 2016, a three or four-year-old human child (sources differ on his age) fell into Harambe’s exhibit (called “Gorilla World”) at the zoo. Even though Harambe did not actually harm the child, he was deemed dangerous and was shot to death by an emergency response team sent in to rescue the child.

The option to use a tranquilizer dart was abandoned by the Emergency Response Team because the child was still located within the enclosure. Had the team fired a tranquilizer dart, they may have struck the child or—because the dart takes a few minutes to take effect—they may have agitated Harambe and caused him to further harm the child.

Reports conflict on how much danger the child was actually in. Some say Harambe didn’t actually hurt the child, while others—including the Cincinnati Zoo themselves, say that Harambe was violently dragging the child throughout the exhibit. Other sources like National Geographic, however, state that Harambe was showing no signs of actual aggression and instead was showing normal playful gorilla behavior; similar to how male gorillas play with their young.

After the child was removed from the exhibit, he was transported to a local hospital and released later that night.

This incident was the first time the Gorilla World exhibit had been breached in the thirty-eight years it had been open. The exhibit was regularly inspected and maintained, but because of this accident had to be re-inspected and changes made to reinforce the barriers.

At the time of his death, Harambe was seventeen years old and had celebrated his birthday only the day before. In all of those seventeen years, he had never displayed aggressive behavior or shown any other signs that something like this would happen. In all honesty--Harambe might still be alive today if the parents or guardians of the child had been paying closer attention and stopped them from falling into the exhibit. According to the Philadelphia Zoo (article linked here and below), Harambe's species can live up to thirty-five years in the wild or fifty-five years in captivity.

Some people believe that Harambe’s death sparked the beginning of the end for humanity, and honestly, I can sort of see their point. Ever since Harambe died in May of 2016 the world has irrevocably changed—and for the most part not for the better. Think about how your life has changed since 2016. It is now May of 2024 when I am writing this article, so think about the past eight years of your life, the lives of those around you, and the world at large.

In the United States alone, since 2016, we have seen a former real-estate mogul and television personality become president (Donald Trump)*, then Covid happened (no explanation needed there), then we had the walking-corpse known as Joe Biden get elected as president—and don’t even get me started on this upcoming election. We also saw riots sparked by the Black Lives Matter movement and the group known as ANTIFA cause millions of dollars in property damage across the country—and for some reason YouTubers and other celebrities have decided to get involved at times. I mention this last bit because, as a native Arizonan, I found it hilarious when Jake Paul was arrested for rioting at a mall in Scottsdale. Of all the people, seriously?

Oh—and apparently the restaurant chain Red Lobster might be going out of business because of their never-ending shrimp option on their menu.

Around the rest of the world, we’ve seen the death of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II, and Queen Margarethe II of Denmark abdicated, which means there are currently no queens regnant in the entire world. The Ukrainian/Russian War kicked off in early 2022, Israel and Palestine are once again at war, Haiti completely collapsed for a few months in early 2024, and a coup was just stopped in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And then in animal news, Kabosu died a few days ago—the real Shiba Inu dog behind the “Doge” meme.

Now, as a historian it is my job to point out that current events that impact the world have constantly been happening since before recorded history. So, do I really think the world has suddenly started falling apart because of the death of a single gorilla? No. I simply believe that the internet and social media have allowed us to be more “plugged-in” for lack of a better term, meaning people can access information much more quickly and become much more informed—whether correctly or incorrectly—about world events; all of which has become much more prevalent since 2016.

Harambe’s death was tragic, there is no doubt about that. He should be remembered for all eternity—and the internet will always keep his memory alive through memes if nothing else. But the world has always been falling apart, and while the last eight years have been crazy to say the least...in the grand scheme of things they have not been any crazier than earlier periods in history.

Rest in Peace Harambe. Keep Kabosu safe with you now, and enjoy those cheddar bay biscuits that Red Lobster is about to take away from the rest of us. (Except for those of us who have had a better copycat recipe for ages already!).

*Although it is difficult to prove, at the time of the 2016 Presidential Election in the United States, it was rumored that Harambe had amassed several thousand votes as a write-in candidate, despite the fact that he had died several months before.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Harambe Sources:

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/entertainment/2023/05/26/when-did-harambe-die-why-was-he-killed-what-happened-to-the-gorilla/70249358007/

https://cincinnatizoo.org/cincinnati-zoo-devastated-by-death-of-beloved-gorilla/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/harambe-gorillas-behaviors-zoos-animals

https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/download/9449/10089

https://www.philadelphiazoo.org/animals/western-lowland-gorilla/#:~:text=Males%20on%20average%20weigh%20300,leaves%2C%20and%20other%20plant%20parts.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/163475420/harambe-the-gorilla

World News Events/Sources:

https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/2016

https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html