'Justice for Harambe' petition says more about misanthropy than animal rights.

I was quite surprised to read about this today in Spiked. For anyone that is not aware, Harambe is the gorilla that was tragically shot and killed when a toddler fell into the gorilla enclosure at Cincinnati Zoo. The incident prompted a petition on change.org condemning the parents and requesting an investigation into their parenting skills as well as safety concerns about the children. The number of people who have signed this petition is close to half a million.

A sad incident at the Cincinnati Zoo has prompted this petition. On May 28, 2016 an unattended four year-old boy was able to crawl through a series of barriers at the Gorilla World enclosure. The child fell an estimated 10 to 12 feet into the moat surrounding the habitat. The 17 year-old male Western Lowland Gorilla named Harambe then got a hold of the boy. The gorilla was perceived as dragging and throwing the boy.

The zoo made the last-resort decision to shoot Harambe because of the increased risk of aggression if a tranquilizer was used in such close proximity to a human. This heartbreaking decision was made in the best interests of keeping the child and the public safe.This beautiful gorilla lost his life because the boy's parents did not keep a closer watch on the child. We the undersigned believe that the child would not have been able to enter the enclosure under proper parental supervision.

Witnesses claim that they heard the child state that he wished to go into the enclosure and was actively trying to breach the barriers. This should have prompted the parents to immediately remove the child from the vicinity. It is believed that the situation was caused by parental negligence and the zoo is not responsible for the child's injuries and possible trauma.

We the undersigned want the parents to be held accountable for the lack of supervision and negligence that caused Harambe to lose his life. We the undersigned feel the child's safety is paramount in this situation. We believe that this negligence may be reflective of the child's home situation.

We the undersigned actively encourage an investigation of the child's home environment in the interests of protecting the child and his siblings from further incidents of parental negligence that may result in serious bodily harm or even death.Please sign this petition to encourage the Cincinnati Zoo, Hamilton County Child Protection Services, and Cincinnati Police Department hold the parents responsible.

Rob Lyons from Spiked refers to the people that signed this petition as "misanthropic arseholes".

So obsessed are they with the life of a gorilla, but too lily-livered to admit that they believe that an animal’s life is worth more than a human’s, that they want to crucify the boy’s parents. Anyone who has spent time around children will know that they have an incredible capacity to get up to mischief when your back is turned, even for a moment. Parents are constantly distracted, too, not least in a busy zoo. Even our own prime minister, David Cameron, managed to leave his daughter behind in a pub in 2012. Parents misplace children all the time – thankfully, in the vast majority of cases, the end result is no harm to the child and a minor scare for the parents.

Yet, rather than sympathise with the terrible scare that these parents have suffered – their child at the mercy of an animal much stronger than an adult human – these petitioners think the best thing to do is demand action against them for negligence. Such is the irrationality that flows from believing in ‘animal rights’. If anyone is worthy of opprobrium, it is anyone prepared to attach his or her name to such a dreadful petition.

Firstly, I am against animals being confined in zoos for the entertainment of humans but this is not the focus of my OP, nor is the actions of the zoo which has already been discussed on ATS. Is this petition justified or is it playing to misguided emotions? I actually saw one comment online " when they took aim, they should have shot the least endangered species". WTF?

I think the petition is outrageous to be honest and agree with Rob. Has anyone else noticed this increasing trend of condemning people online without all the facts?. One of the commenters on Spiked describes it as a social media hate-fest. How very apt.

Petition

Spiked Article

a reply to: Morrad

I would hold it against the halfassed parents before I would the ape, I have seen several version of the video, he had no intent to harm the child. If he wanted to hurt the kid, he would have. (Ever seen a silver back play with a truck tire?) One dead ape, two pathetic excuses for parents. Who is to blame??? Ohh yeah the idjuts that allowed a 3 year old to wander. I have taken my children to zoos several times, you know what??? They never got in the dang pens. Why??? Even when we way up close and even held them up so they could see over the fences. Because they were supervised!!!

At the end of the day, there are going to be opinions on all sides but it still boils down to a failure of adults to pay attention to children.

a reply to: sycomix

You get a star.

a reply to: Morrad

Glad to see that at this point, you neither have flags, stars nor responses for your post.
Not worthy of any of them.

a reply to: Morrad

There's 2 petitions about this. Then one you note want the 'child's home environment investigated by CPS', I did NOT sign that one. I signed the second one that wasn't so crazy. It is the zoo's fault. All of it.

I suggest the get faster-acting tranquilizers. Though, they didn't have them and I feel there was no other option for them, at the time.

This particular zoo was hoping that the male gorilla would breed, and it is an endangered species. This zoo, I think is a good one. There are others that are not.

a reply to: Morrad

Those who signed the petition are of course "perfect people in every way" they are immune to distractions, stress, fatigue and have been perfect parents in every way as well they have never made a mistake, ever.

originally posted by: Starling
a reply to: Morrad

Glad to see that at this point, you neither have flags, stars nor responses for your post.
Not worthy of any of them.

And why not? I Star and Flagged, you might want to refresh your page.

a reply to: Grimpachi

By no means perfect but have enough sense to keep my small children in a line of sight. Really who between two parents or how many other adults in the area has the complete lack of sense enough to not say, umm hey that kid shouldn't be climbing that? Idjuts the lot of em.

I finally saw one of the videos this morning on O'Reilly. I was not going to watch but now that I've seen it I have an opinion.

I think its really terrible that harambe lost his life, and I do agree it is the parents fault for not watching their kid close enough. I know for damn sure I would have a tight grip on my kids.

That being said, I don't think they're terrible people....nobody is perfect and mistakes happen.....the people raging on these parents from their high horses should realize that.........its like suddenly everybody commenting are the best parents in the world and would Never make a mistake....

Shooting Harambe was the right decision unfortunately.....whether he intended on being aggressive or not that was way to precarious of a situation for any hesitation or guessing what to do.

In the video I saw you can Cleary see the gorilla running, dragging the little boy through the water by his ankle. It looks very abrupt, rough and violent. That alone could have knocked the kid out and he may have drowned.

Imagine how terrified that little child was! Breaks my heart and I'm glad he's ok.

There was so much power and unpredictably behind that animal.....it was scary.

If that was my kid I'd be praying for someone to shoot Harambe....

I know that's terrible, I love animals, I can't hunt because I hate killing animals. But that was just way too sketchy.

It's a crappy situation.......it was preventable, but that kid was in some serious danger. Just watch him being drug by his ankle and then imagine it's your kid.......

a reply to: GoShredAK

Alas, only humans are brutal enough to kill an animal because of their (humans') own stupidity.

a reply to: Morrad

Humans are not lovable creatures. That is the problem.

a reply to: GoShredAK

In all the videos the child never even cried. Watch closely.

a reply to: GoShredAK

Nice talking points there, did you come up with all that yourself after watching OReilly? I'm only asking because I can easily imagine those exact same words coming directly out of Bill's mouth.

originally posted by: Liquesence
a reply to: GoShredAK

Alas, only humans are brutal enough to kill an animal because of their (humans') own stupidity.

It was brutal. People do suck......the mistake happened and there was no turning back.

Should they have just let it play out?

The only think I could think is maybe they could have sent a crew of professional gorilla handlers to distract Harambe and grab the child?

Do people really believe the kid should have died instead?

a reply to: Morrad

In the zoo in my city (about 1.5 hours from the Cincinnati Zoo), I don't think you could find an animal enclosure that a three-year old could not breach if given a couple of minutes.

I watch my children when we are at the zoo. We have season passes.

I have a three-year old. If she told me she wanted to get in the gorilla enclosure and I told her "no" a hundred times, I would still be on high watch for her doing exactly what she wants. Like all three-year olds, mine has been known to NOT listen when she's been told no. I know this is true for my kid and all three-year olds.

Yes, my kid would *likely* get herself partway beyond the barrier and call my attention once more to see if she really could not proceed. But I wouldn't let her even get that far. We would have moved on immediately or she would be in my arms or stroller after asking the first time.

I completely blame the parents.

I do not blame the zoo because I believe the child's life was the priority. I hate that the gorilla died, but I accept that the zoo's decision was valid.

Screw these parents that act like they did nothing wrong in not taking heed of their child's EXPRESSED intentions to get in the gorilla enclosure. I don't care if they told him "no" and took their eyes off him because he was told no. I have seen parents 'allow' their kids run out into the streets, in the city where I live, with city buses barreling down on them -- even after the parents told their kids not to.

Harambe's death was a result of crappy, crappy supervision. And this kid was being supervised by his parents. They are neglectful and should be investigated thoroughly by CPS. They knew their kid was at HIGH RISK for going into the enclosure. They are responsible for not preventing what was foreseeable.

The facts I've read are enough for me to stand by this opinion.

originally posted by: sycomix
a reply to: GoShredAK

In all the videos the child never even cried. Watch closely.

He was probably petrified.....Harambe was dragging him really freaking fast. Looked like he was being drug behind a vehicle.

Do people really believe the kid should have died instead?

Natural. Selection.

originally posted by: SirHardHarry
a reply to: GoShredAK

Nice talking points there, did you come up with all that yourself after watching OReilly? I'm only asking because I can easily imagine those exact same words coming directly out of Bill's mouth.

No, I didn't listen to Bill. The show was on and I happened to catch the clip

I'm basing my opinion entirely on the way Harambe was dragging the boy by his ankle....and imaging him as my own....

a reply to: GoShredAK

Not to petrified to stop and just kinda looks around after the leg drag and again after the pulled by the hand of picked up. After each event the child just sat there and looked around with the expression like... well that doesn't happen every day. I have seen kids scared the hell out of, that wan't that look.

originally posted by: Restricted

Do people really believe the kid should have died instead?

Natural. Selection.

That's pretty harsh.....though I disagree I respect your opinion...