To Kill or Not To Kill- The Gorilla Story
We live in a world where our decisions are constantly questioned. If someone, being his most self-righteous self, does anything to benefit others (included himself at times), faces turn against him questioning the intent.
A recent incident that created quite uproar, last week to be precise, comprises the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden authorities to have killed a rare Gorilla, named Harambe, in order to protect one child that fell in the former’s enclosure.
The boy, 3, crawled and somehow managed to trespass the barrier, falling right into the gorilla’s exhibit. He was then grabbed, tossed and dragged by the male western lowland gorilla, leading him to several serious injuries. There were two female gorillas also in the enclosure, but to his sheer luck, the boy wasn’t attacked by all three. It was after 10 long minutes of encountering the incident, did the Dangerous Animal Response Team of the zoo take notice and eventually killed the “threat”.
What is thought-provoking here is the fact that the gorilla, like most similar incidents, was initially protective of the boy and only got startled when a ruckus eventually got created.
More than the decision of killing the rare species, it is the Zoo authorities that need to be questioned on their staff being missing during the scene. Had the gorilla initially intended to kill the boy, he would have done so. It was only after it got agitated due to the sudden chaos, was the boy harmed. One should also ask as to why the animal wasn’t sedated.
Anyhow, troubling as it may sound; internet, as always, woke up and created quite a stir around this news. Questions started to pop from every which way whether the killing is justified or unfair. Fingers were pointed from every direction, and although some of the questions made sense, rest all seemed to have somehow found this unfortunate event funny, what with all the trolling!
This is a sorry state of affairs. An incident that could have parted either ways but was blown out of proportion and only us – the internet age – is to be blamed for it!
