Man’s arrogance is placing animals in danger
There was recently a huge outrage in America following the death of a 17-year-old giant 400-pound gorilla named Harambe.
Heard of the story? What happened is that a four-year-old boy tumbled into an animal exhibit occupied by the gorilla.
As horrified zoo patrons – including the child’s mother – looked on, the gorilla violently dragged the boy from one end of the enclosure to the other.
Finally, after about 10 minutes, zoo officials and law enforcement officers determined that they had to shoot and kill the gorilla in order to save the kid’s life.
The boy was rushed to a hospital where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries. A happy ending to what could have been a terrible, tragic story.
WATCH: Baby falls into Gorilla Pit at Cincinnati Zoo
Of course, since then, a lot of people were left angered that the gorilla was killed. This has also sparked a furious debate regarding the value of human life versus the value of an animal’s life.
I feel sort of obligated to tackle this topic, since we live in Africa, and here in our land of dodgy leadership we have to deal with sad issues relating to poaching, thus an animal’s life is traded for man’s greed.
And no, focusing on this issue is not detracting from other serious issues in Boksburg, simply highlighting mankind’s journey of ‘dull-enlightenment’.
What happened in America is a rather complicated matter.
Arguments have arisen that no matter what, a human life has to be spared at all times, even though some were of the opinion the animal could have been successfully tranquilised.
Since the shooting, a sympathy card rests at the feet of a gorilla statue outside the Gorilla World exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden.
Officials at the zoo explained that a tranquiliser would take several minutes to work, and during that time the animal would be even more agitated, further endangering the boy’s life. But that’s a risk worth taking, according to a lot of people.
There are those again who refuse to be moved by the death of the animal, citing they will stand firm and continue reasserting the most basic and self-evident truths. In this case, the truth that human life is more valuable than animal life.
Then there is the argument while the world mourns the death of the gorilla, it has turned a blind eye to the millions of babies being killed or harmed or abused in times of war, conflict and domestic violence.
Again, what happened in the zoo is a sensitive matter, because the reality is, this should never have happened and that the boy should never have landed in the pit which would have spared the life of the gorilla.
Therefore, blame has been placed on both the parent for allowing the child to get into the pit, and on the zoo’s insufficient security.
As parents we know how easy it is for a child to get into mischief, but parent vigilance is of utmost importance.
We may not know the full story (since the child may have been quite innovative to breach security), but the from the outset, the gorilla was never at fault.
Whoever is to be blamed, the animal simply acted naturally. As one expert has commented, gorillas are not predatory animals so the chances were slim the boy was even in danger.
This incident reminded me of how people would call for the shooting of a shark when a swimmer is attacked, but what do you expect if you invade the shark’s domain?
This is the same argument with the gorilla. That pit was his domain. The human encroached upon it. Neither the shark or the gorilla could be blamed.
This same argument is valid when we visit the Kruger National Park which is the domain of the animals. And yet we act like idiots on their territory and then when something bad happens we demand action, such as the end of an animal’s life.
Following the incident in America, safety measures at zoos were again highlighted, and here in South Africa it also applies but is not always enforced.
This includes not allowing your children to tease the animals, teaching children to respect animals and their habitats, not to dangle for a better angle (doing something stupid like hanging over a railing for a better view), keeping your children close and lastly, saying no to photos.
Think this only happens in America? In 2015, officials at the East London Zoo moved to assure visitors of its safety after a man was mauled by a lion.
The victim who was killed by the lion after the mauling, had deliberately jumped into the enclosure. Go figure.
Should the gorilla have been shot? The zoo defended its action, but for me, this sordid tale again highlights man’s ignorance and arrogance.
After all, there is also the strong argument we should not even be caging animals in the first place, never mind animals that could act dangerously.
At the end of the day, it is true that human life is more important, but not at the expense of an animal’s life because of our arrogance (poaching), idiocy, ego or stupidity.
