What if I told you that one heroic gorilla would put the city of Cincinnati on the map and change Twitter as we know it forever? On March 28, 2016, that is exactly what happened.
On a school’s field trip to the Cincinnati Zoo, a three-year-old boy found himself in the gorilla enclosure after climbing the fence and falling 15 feet into the exhibit. Upon the fall, a seventeen year old, western lowland gorilla named Harambe came to boy’s rescue after seeing him splashing in the water. Harambe picked the boy up and began dragging him through the water, attempting to get him to safety, but that was unknown to the bystanders and employees at the zoo. After much commotion from the people watching, the 450-pound gorilla grew increasingly agitated and began to become more careless when transporting the boy.
The gorilla’s actions led to the zoo officials having to make the difficult decision to shoot the gorilla as opposed to tranquilizing it, for fear that sedation would not work quickly enough on an animal of his size. The gunshot that Harambe took would be his last moment on this Earth. The boy was rescued safely, but the gorilla’s life had ended just one day after his seventeenth birthday.
After news of the incident got out to the public, a great deal of conflict arose. Activists quickly crucified the Cincinnati Zoo for their unwillingness to tranquilize an endangered species, but instead end its life, and contribute to the species’ dwindling population.
As ruthless as the activists were, the Twitter world proved to be much worse. Harambe went viral on the popular social media site, initially by activists and others who wanted their voices to be heard, but then the gorilla was turned into memes and gifs and his death was seemingly taken as a joke. Twitter users would use these memes to tweet at the Cincinnati Zoo and the abuse became so bad that the Zoo eventually deleted their account for a brief amount of time, thus signifying that the people had succeeded in getting Harambe some sort of justice. The Zoo could take no more abuse for their mishandling of this terrible situation.
While the Zoo was unhappy about the memes and gifs, it became a favorite for just about everyone else. So much so that Vox Magazine credited Harambe as the meme of the year in 2016 and publications such as The Washington Post and People magazine reported on the large amount of support that these memes gained. Harambe also gained political exposure after hashtags such as, "#BushDidHarambe" surfaced. There were also multiple accounts of individuals writing in his name on their ballot during the 2016 Presidential election. American rapper Yung Thug paid tribute to the gorilla on his latest album with a song titled "Harambe."
While Harambe’s death was a traumatic experience for all of the people directly involved, it did result in a unification of the population that can only be accomplished through social media. Today countless individuals now know more about The Queen City more than ever before. His death led to thousands of people coming together to show their support for and to gain some sort of justice for fallen animal.
This article is dedicated to Harambe. Gone but never forgotten. RIP our sweet prince.
