In late May, zookeepers at the Cincinnati Zoo shot and killed Harambe the silverback gorilla, after a young child fell into the enclosure, prompting discussion into how the situation was handled and whether the shooting was justified.
While the incident incited uproar and criticism from the public, the zoo has adamantly defended the response. “You can’t take a risk with a silverback gorilla. This is a dangerous animal,” said Thayne Maynard, director for the zoo. He added that the gorilla was “clearly agitated” and “clearly disoriented.”
The internet has been overwhelmingly critical of the child’s parents, wondering how a three-year-old boy could wander into the enclosure of a 450-pound male gorilla. “It seems that some gorillas make better parents than some people,” tweeted comedian Ricky Gervais. Another comedian and political commentator tweeted that the boy’s parents should be arrested for negligence.
Some have argued that tranquilizing the gorilla would have been a more adequate and humane response. However, experts have noted that tranquilizers could take up to 10 minutes to take effect and could further agitate the gorilla.
Without assigning blame to anyone in particular — the zoo administrators, the parents or the response team — this incident highlights the problem with keeping primates and apes in captivity, and we should reconsider the legitimacy of having these animals in captivity for public amusement and entertainment.
First, rethinking ape captivity would help avoid life-threatening accidents like the one in Cincinnati. The zoo and its defenders have insisted that the child was in immediate danger, which is supported by video footage that shows Harambe repeatedly dragging the child across the enclosure. We live in a society where children aren’t allowed to ride certain roller coasters, go on certain water slides or see certain movies, all with their safety and well-being in mind. So why do we allow three-year-olds to stand within feet of dangerous creatures, with nothing but ropes and chain-link fencing between the two?
It would be one thing if this was an isolated incident, a lapse in security or some otherwise blunderous error. However, this is not the first time a small child has fallen into an ape’s enclosure. According to CNN, a young boy fell into a gorilla enclosure at Jersey Zoo in the United Kingdom in 1986, and another at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago in 1996. How many children —or gorillas— have to be put in life-threatening situations before these exhibits are reconsidered?
A further reason to reconsider ape captivity in zoos is that it is unethical. Developments in biology, sociology and anthropology have revealed that behavioral differences between humans and nonhuman primates, like chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas, may not be as significant as they have previously been thought to be. Jane Goodall’s 50 years spent living with and observing the behavior of chimpanzees taught us that some primates are capable of using tools and developing and maintaining complex relationships, which the chimps demonstrated through hugging and kissing. Koko the gorilla taught us that apes are capable of communicating through formal language, as well as grieving and mourning the death of a close friend — one that was not a fellow gorilla, but a cat. This challenges and contradicts traditional arguments that demonstrations of grief in nonhuman animals are maternal or paternal, instinctual, or otherwise biological. Instead, it promotes an understanding of apes as being conscious, cognitive and self-aware.
While there may not be any research indicating gorillas and chimpanzees are capable of calculating density or writing philosophy (although there is quite a bit of discussion about them authoring Shakespeare), there is overwhelming evidence that they are capable of feeling, caring and grieving.
In light of developments in our understanding of ape consciousness, as well as consistent indications that we, as a species, are incapable of displaying these delicate and emotional creatures without endangering ourselves and our offspring, it may be time to reconsider ape and primate captivity.
So even if you won’t do it for the gorillas, won’t you, please, in the spirit of Helen Lovejoy, do it for the children?