For a brief, bizarre moment in 2016, a gorilla became the most talked-about figure on the internet.
It was May 28, a day that began like any other at the Cincinnati Zoo, filled with the sounds of children laughing and animals calling. But a curious turn of events soon unfolded that would lead to international debate and a torrent of media scrutiny. A three-year-old boy, Isiah Gregg, who momentarily slipped away from his mother’s watchful eye, found himself in the moat of a gorilla enclosure.
The gorilla, a 17-year-old Western lowland silverback named Harambe, approached the child. What followed was a tense, frightening tableau captured on video and streamed into millions of homes: Harambe dragging the boy through the water and the onlookers screaming. The zoo officials ultimately chose to shoot Harambe, believing it was the only way to ensure the child’s safety.
The incident sparked a firestorm of controversy. Some primatologists have suggested that Harambe may have been trying to protect the boy from the screaming crowds that gathered as the drama unfolded. Of course, this interpretation is little consolation to those who feel Harambe’s death was a senseless tragedy. Animal rights activists argued that the gorilla’s behavior was misinterpreted by zoo officials, who made a rash decision to shoot him rather than using tranquilizers or other non-lethal means to subdue him. Many placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the boy’s parents, who were widely criticized for losing track of their son and failing to prevent him from breaching the enclosure’s barriers
Meanwhile, others defended the zoo’s decision, emphasizing that the child’s life was in imminent danger and that the zoo had to act quickly.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, the boy’s family was subjected to intense public scrutiny and even death threats from those who held them responsible for Harambe’s death. Remarkably, the family maintained a dignified silence throughout the ordeal, even as the internet buzzed with dark humor and conspiracy theories about their role in the tragedy. The Cincinnati Police Department investigated the incident but ultimately did not press charges against the boy’s mother, stating that she was not negligent in her actions.
Harambe quickly became a meme, with people photoshopping his image into various situations, including stills from the movie Planet of the Apes. These memes often feature Harambe as a leader or a revolutionary figure among primates.
As for the boy himself, he is probably a healthy and happy 11-year-old now. Details about his whereabouts are scarce as his family has chosen to keep him out of the public eye for all the hate they received. However, following the incident, many photos of the boy were released, and you could see the marks on his elbow had healed.