Readers React: Did Harambe the gorilla have to die because of human mistakes?

To the editor: So a perfectly innocent gorilla is killed at the Cincinnati Zoo because a 4-year-old boy found a way to get into the exhibit? Where were the parents or caretakers of this boy? (“After Cincinnati Zoo kills gorilla to protect toddler, critics attack mother,” May 31)

The gorilla might never have hurt that child, but we’ll never know, will we?

I understand the dilemma, but what happened is a major tragedy that could have been avoided if the child’s caretakers had only done their job and kept track of the boy and the zoo had made it impossible for something like this to happen. Obviously a three-foot-high fence isn’t enough to deter an inquisitive child whose caretakers probably are not watching him closely.

It’s too bad that a gorilla had to die to prove this point.

Diana Wolff, Rancho Palos Verdes

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To the editor: If the 4-year-old child had been a blond, blue-eyed girl named Hope who was being dragged around, I have the feeling that the sound of crickets would have been heard regarding the demise of Harambe the gorilla.

Blaming mom and movie fantasies about the immediate effects of tranquilizers would likely not be the fodder of social media outrage in that case. It was the gorilla or the kid, and it doesn’t matter how the kid ended up down there. That’s a review matter for another day. The kid had to be saved.

Make a donation to the World Wildlife Fund and save endangered gorillas in Central Africa if you want “justice” for Harambe.

Trevor Amon, Victoria, Canada

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