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HARAMBE THE GORILLA lives on, perhaps not physically but in the enduring devotion of his global followers who continue to fight the fight.
Now, their voices have grown so loud and so frequent that the zoo where the gorilla met his grisly demise has been forced off social media.
Cincinnati Zoo previously said that it was “not amused” by the endless stream of Harambe memes. Now, the zoo has disappeared from Facebook and Twitter after its pleas for them to stop led to a fresh deluge of support for the deceased silverback.
It all began back in May when zoo authorities shot Harambe dead after a four-year-old boy managed to get inside the gorilla enclosure. A ‘justice’ campaign for the gorilla gathered pace, with the boy’s parents even being investigated by police before no charges were brought.
But while those calls dissipated, the jokes did not.
The jokes became more frequent of late as the zoo attempted to move on from Harambe and focus on its other animals.
Speaking to Associated Press recently, the zoo’s director was losing patience.
“We are not amused by the memes, petitions and signs about Harambe,” Thane Maynard said.
Our zoo family is still healing, and the constant mention of Harambe makes moving forward more difficult for us. We are honouring Harambe by redoubling our gorilla conservation efforts and encouraging others to join us.
But the people didn’t listen
It seems this was the last straw for Cincinnati Zoo who have since deleted their social media accounts.
Killed them, if you will.
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