It Could Have Been Stella

For those of you who aren’t aware, a tragic incident occurred at the Cincinnati Zoo this past weekend. A three year old boy made his way through a fence and bushes and fell 15 feet to the bottom of Harambe the Gorilla’s enclosure. The endangered male Silverback Gorilla was shot as he held the little boy between his legs. Luckily, the little boy only suffered a concussion and a few scratches  from being dragged around by the gorilla and has since been released from the hospital.

If you’ve been on social media, you’ve probably seen that just about everyone has an opinion on the situation. Many people agree that the gorilla should have been killed to save the child yet there are just as many saying the child should have died or the child deserved it for getting into the enclosure. Seriously, people say the child should have been killed by the gorilla. How in the hell did we get here as a society? Where human beings think a child, a three year old little boy, deserves to be hurt or killed by an animal because his curious little mind wandered into the exhibit. I am appalled that people have the balls to say that out loud. Those who are saying awful things like this most likely aren’t parents themselves. Don’t you dare say that your child wouldn’t ever be in that situation because you’re a perfect parent and your child is perfect little angel. That is straight up bullshit.

I am the mother of one wild, rambunctious three and a half year old girl named Stella. Literally, she is one of the craziest kids I have ever seen and it seems to be worse in public. We went to a small local zoo on Mother’s day (I wrote about her crazy antics here) and she could have easily hopped in the penguin exhibit. Though they wouldn’t have hurt her, but she would have drowned. For those that aren’t around three or four year olds on a regular basis, you don’t know how unpredictable they are. So when I read horrible things like the child should have been killed instead of the gorilla, it really hurts my heart. That could have been my little girl. Even with her dad and I right there, she could easily have slipped through those steel bars (the fence he went through didn’t do much to prevent this) and crawled through the bushes to fall 15 feet down just like this little boy did. We also have a two month old little girl so it’s tough to have all eyes on my toddler at every second. Just imagine being in the shoes of his helpless mother. What would you have done had you been in this situation? I know damn well no one would let their child die.

This could have been anyone’s child so to say he deserved what he got or deserved to die is completely disgusting. Yes, an endangered gorilla was killed. Yes, it’s horribly sad. But when does the life of a gorilla hold more value than that of a child’s? It doesn’t.

– Casey