On May 26, 2016, history was made – after a young boy climbed into a gorilla enclosure in Cincinnati’s zoo, the child was grabbed and dragged by 17-year old Harambe, a Western lowland gorilla. A zoo worker then shot and killed the ape, which was caught on video, and sparked a huge controversy. Equal outrage was really only caused by the killing of other popular animals, such as the shooting of Cecil the lion in 2015 and Tatiana the tiger in 2007. Neither of them had quite the same impact as the beloved Harambe though.



While a number of animal conservationists spoke out and said that the zoo had no other option in order to protect the boy, many (or rather, most) people thought quite differently. Harambe was killed with a single shot, while the boy (who was mostly unharmed) sat between his legs. The parents were cleared of wrong-doing, but the zoo briefly came under fire for insufficient safety measures. Peoples outrage only got worse when it was discovered that he was killed one day after his 17th birthday – with roughly half of his life left to live.The video of the incident went viral, and vigils were held all over the world. However, this was 2016 and it didn’t stop with a little bit of public upset. He quickly became the subject of many, many Internet memes, some of which were in poor taste, while others were just plain funny.The whole ordeal escalated to the point where Harambe had 5% support during polls as a US presidential candidate at one point – ahead of some living, human candidates. Eventually, as is always the case, the whole thing died down a little, but it certainly was not forgotten. Harambe-fans created a video game featuring him, several songs were released, and there have been petition to name pretty much every new-born gorilla since then Harambe.Cincinnati Zoo was less than pleased about it all, constantly releasing negative comments about the memes and activity related to what had unfortunately become their most defining characteristic. Now, over a year later, the zoo has replaced Harambe. He left behind two female gorillas named Chewie and Mara, who have finally gotten a new cage-mate. The two females, 21, and 22 at the time, were present when the incident occurred – however, when a zookeeper called all three inside after the boy fell into the enclosure, only Harambe stayed behind.Mshindi, a 29 year old Western lowland gorilla was moved to Cincinnati from Louisville Zoo. According to the zoo’s curator, Mshindi has settled in nicely after collaboration between the two zoos to make it all go smoothly. The curator refused to comment on Harambe, instead focussing on their efforts to conserve and save the species, which many Harambe-fans found somewhat ironic.The Western lowland gorilla is a critically endangered species native to a small area in central and west Africa, with strongly declining numbers. They can grow up to 5feet and 440 pounds, and have a life expectancy of around 50 years. The WWF offers a virtual gorilla adoption service that lets fans of the species support them. They even offer a certificate and photo, so you can make your adoption official. Find out more here.Even now, most social media and public contact channels of the zoo remain shut down, and calls go unanswered – seems the public isn’t over Harambe yet, no matter how comfortable Mshindi is in the new enclosure the zoo added to the gorilla’s home. It is an indoor habitat where visitors can see the gorillas year-round.