On this day in 2016, a western lowland gorilla was shot and killed at the Cincinnati Zoo after a little boy fell into the gorilla enclosure. The outrage that swiftly followed was extensive. People around the world called on the child’s mother to be charged with negligence and on the zoo to be punished for inadequate fencing, blaming both for failing to prevent the situation that led to Harambe’s death. Only a few voices called for the one change that could prevent this type of tragedy every time—an end to the imprisonment of self-aware, autonomous beings like Harambe.
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