So, apparently, a young child (three or four depending on who's reporting) fell into the enclosure and, fearing the gorilla might accidentally or intentionally harm the child, the decision was made to shoot the animal. End of story? Hardly...
Humans, in typical fashion, are all over the place on this one. Thanks to social media, anyone with a computer can voice their opinion on a subject about which no one but the parents of the child and the zoo personnel are qualified to discuss. What is that adage about opinions?
Why, even I have an opinion. Quelle surprise! I have opinions galore about zoos, animals in captivity in general, parenting, religion, guns, politics, the weather, etc. etc. etc. Truth be told, my opinions come from one source and they carry a universal theme: All life is sacred and we must do everything within our power to protect it.
Notice I didn't say, "Only humans are sacred." Nor did I say "Only animals are sacred." Let me repeat that again (Yogi Berra, I miss you) All life is sacred and must be protected. (I abbreviated it that time.)
Life. From the tiniest microbe to the most majestic creature - all working together to sustain life on an evolving planet. Humans come somewhere in between but have claimed dominion. I used that word intentionally because it points directly to the source of Judeo-Christian philosophy that mankind has dominion over the Earth.
do·min·ion
dəˈminyən/
noun
- 1.sovereignty; control."man's attempt to establish dominion over nature"
synonyms: supremacy, ascendancy, dominance, domination, superiority, predominance, preeminence, hegemony, authority, mastery, control, command, power, sway, rule, government, jurisdiction, sovereignty, suzerainty
"at the time the Spartans had dominion over Athens"
We are, sadly, a nation of egomaniacs. No matter one's religion, socio-economic status, gender or politics, humans have become narcissists. Blame social media, pop culture or society in general - humans have a sense of entitlement.
Those with little to no ego, who want everyone and thing to live in peace and harmony, find themselves victims of ridicule. It is why so many people are divided over issues. On one hand, we have the forward thinking people who want to preserve the planet. On the other are the deniers. On one hand we have people who view all life as sacred. On the other are those who think humans rank supreme.
Judeo-Christians like to wave their Bibles and use it as a weapon against just about anyone. It has been proven that, with carefully crafted editing, the Bible can be used to defend or deny just about anything.
People, with their huge egos, have taken the word, dominion, and applied it to nearly everything. It has been used to defend the indefensible - slavery. It has been used to deny global warming.
(I'm sorry. I have to stop here. I cannot concentrate because my two Abyssinian cats are wreaking havoc. They have waged war on the kitchen counter top; knocking over a speaker; trying to pull a bag of rolls behind the mini tv; and racing back and forth like they're on fire!)
Where was I? Oh, yes, dominion. Well, I clearly have no dominion over my own household. Nor do I want it. I want the creatures with whom I live to want to be here. I want them to live in harmony as equals. Well, as sentient beings with the right to food, safety, love and happiness, even if that means I have to live with slobber, cat hair and nothing remotely breakable in sight.
I am deeply opposed to zoos, circuses, animal theme parks (and Sea World, this means you,) petting zoos (yes, I have added them) and factory farming. Pretty much anything that exploits animals for human gain - food, clothing and entertainment.
I confess to being one of those folks who tried to detach from reality regarding the consumption of animal flesh. I saw neatly packaged cuts of meat in the grocery store - not the whole creature from which it came. I did get upset every Thanksgiving; cleaning a whole turkey which is undeniably a huge, headless bird. Now, I have done many things over the years that have upset my family, but serving a tofurkey would have been the last straw.
Something snapped in me when I saw pictures and videos of the way animals are handled in factory farms. The images have haunted me and I can no longer pass the meat section in the grocery store without seeing the steps of pain and horror which got it there.
Ego, thy name is human. I doubt we can evolve as a species until we rid ourselves of it. Until we realize "dominion" is the wrong word. (Hey, the Bible was written a long time ago and much of it was cultural and specific to the time period.) Let's try "harmony" instead. Not the sappy soda commercial variety but a realization that all life is sacred and must be protected. As a matter of fact, other religions seem to have a much better grasp of that concept.
Let's stop looking at animals as commodity or entertainment. Let's stop chewing away at their natural habitat; causing them to move into forbidden human habitat, seeking food. Let's conserve and preserve rather than confine and profit. Our collective fate rests on this. So let's abolish the collective ego.
Oh, and as for the child falling into the gorilla enclosure. Well, he did declare his intention which was to "jump in the water." I do not know why his parent(s) didn't take him seriously. I have a step-grand who has as many as four adults jumping to attention when he makes one of his declarations of intent.
However, I will not say, "Stuff happens." Certain things shouldn't happen. There shouldn't be a way for anything to get past a barrier designed to separate one species from another more powerful one. Horror flicks have made fortunes on that theme. (King Kong, Jurassic Park, Jaws come to mind). And in every one, the moral of the story is that the creature should not be confined in the first place and humans are just idiots with huge egos!!!!
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