Harambe's Death Makes Me Wonder If Zoos Are Really Worth It

Are they really good for the animals?

Originally published on June 6, 2016

It’s not very often that I can get my mom to engage in conversation about a current event, but when I brought up the tragedy at the Cincinatti Zoo involving a four-year-old boy falling into the gorilla enclosure with a 17 year old male gorilla named Harambe she had some words to say and the conversation went down a different path than I was expecting.

There are two main issues that should be brought up as a result of this tragedy: first, the culpability of parents, and second, the whole idea of animals in zoos.

I am not a parent. I can only imagine what the mother must have been feeling when she saw her son in the enclosure and seemed in danger. But should this have happened in the first place? Was it really her fault? Many people think so, and almost 500,000 people have since signed a petition called Justice for Harambe which, if successful, will hold the parents of the boy responsible for the incident. An episode of The Philip DeFranco Show goes into a few other items in greater detail, if you are interested in that, because next I’m going to be talking about something you probably weren’t expecting.

Besides agreeing with me that a parent like that should certainly be held responsible, my mom also talked about how much she thinks zoos are just sad places. True, they help with conservation and protection of endangered species, but how much of a benefit is there really for the animals? The zoo in Erie is very small compared to other zoos; therefore the exhibits are small as well. Often there is only one of a kind of animal, like one giraffe or one tiger. While there is something exciting about realizing there is only a few inches of glass between you and a large cat, imagine having to spend your life in the same ten foot long area every day, alone. The nice thing about big zoos is they have more space for more animals to feel more natural in their environment. The problem with that is people cannot see said animals and then they complain and the zoo is somehow at fault.

She also said that some people see humans as much higher than animals, but disagreed. Many of them are smart in their own way and people need to take that more into account. Animals can form attachments, even something much like friendship, with humans. Take Harambe for instance. He was 17 years old. Inevitably there were zookeepers who knew him for a long time, not to mention the other gorillas who lived with him, who will have an emotional response to his death. Animals are sentient creatures who shouldn’t regularly be in an environment not suited for them. People get grumpy in extreme heat or cold; animals meant to live in a rainforest probably aren’t too comfortable in Erie winters either.

I have never really been a person to advocate for animals’ rights, but I can see her point and have done some deeper thinking about this. As much as zoos are good for education and benefits for the protection of endangered animals, as a whole they are not very good for the animals. I feel like fewer, bigger zoos with more funding would be the solution. That way the animals would be happier and the safety of people would be ensured more completely than it already is.  

I am sure there are some flaws in my logic somewhere since I know next to nothing about zoos but I can tell you this: those animals are smarter than you think. Look how Harambe protected the little boy.