HARAMBE ACT / #HarambeAct AIM : • Engage the Responsibility of any Zoo in the Death of any endangered and not endangered animal to be reviewed by the Counsel described below • Make sure Emergency procedures in such case are reviewed, known by every staff member and exercised once a year. Every Zoo personal should be First Aid certified as well as familiar with Emergency Procedures • Make sure the appropriate modifications are made to the Gorilla or any at risk animals enclosures to avoid such future incident. • Always prioritize non-lethal options ( Tranqulizers ) to implement in this type of situation. Lethal options should ONLY be used after non-lethal ones. • The only way to bypass the non-lethal option would be for the decision to be voted at 100% unanimity by a Counsel comprised of the Zoo Director/President, the Zoo Keeper in charge of the animal involved, a Veterinary Doctor ( Preferably the one involved with the zoo in question ) and a Medical Doctor ( to analyse the Human Risk Factor ) ------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- What started it : Our open letter to the Cincinnati Zoo ZOO DECISION: Instead of making an educated decision based on animal behaviour knowledge and years of hands-on experience with Gorillas , the Zoo succumbed to Peer pressure and fast resolution based on Human emotion and reputation, saving one by taking another, instead of saving two. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- OUR ANALYZE OF THE VIDEO • At the beginning of the video, the young kid appears in a corner of the enclosure. The Silverback is in front of him. He is not facing the kid, he is not making any noises or grunts, he is not waving his arms or running. He is calm and looking the opposite way to the kid, looking towards what would come towards the both of them. EXPLANATION : he is protecting the kid, placing himself between whatever could come towards the young child. • At another point in the video, you can see the kid, sitting on the floor, and the Silverback is at his side. At one moment, the Silverback grabs gently the kid's hand and hold it. Anybody who had parents is familiar with this gesture : holding hands. This is a comforting, reassuring act. ' Everything is going to be ok ' Again, he is not making any threatening gestures, he is not waving his arms in the air, he is not running wildly, he is not making any noise, he is not grunting, he is not shouting, yelling, he is not beating his chest with his arms. He is calm. EXPLANATION : this is again a clear non threatening behaviour. It is a reassuring gesture, nothing else. Even by looking at how gently he does it. This is a silverback gorilla, a several hundreds pounds animal with a powerful force, six times stronger than an adult human. He could have crushed the kid's hands without any issue if that was his intention. But it was not. • Thirdly, we can see the kid, being in the water, and the Silverback picks him up and makes him stands, so he is higher in the water. EXPLANATION : The Silverback is just looking after the kid, making sure the water does not reach too high, which is why he is lifting him up, again, gently, and makes him stand. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS AND ANIMAL BEHAVIOURAL ANALYSIS * Stacy DeFrancesco, research animal Behavior specialist, who expressed her disgust over the death of the animal and the need to educate zoo personal, pointed us to the first article An article by news.com.au interviewed University of New England animal behaviour expert Gisela Kaplan who provided an expert analysis of the Silverback behaviour. She stated : ' Usually a child is not a threat '. The Professor, author of ' Orang-Utans in Borneo', goes on to explain : ' The Silverback would have understood that it was a defenceless small child. They would not normally attack, they are not an aggressive species ( and ) in the wild I'm certain the boy would not have been killed ' She then explains that the leader of the troops was only doing what a leader is supposed to do, which is investigate. ' If there is an unusual thing happening, ( HARAMBE ) needs to investigate. The fact that he went over to the child is absolutely natural Behavior it it does not mean he was aggressive. ' Professor Kaplan than explains there was no aggressive Behavior demonstrated by Harame. ' If he was going to attack, he would have warned him first. The first thing they do is charge and beat their chests and as far as I know that did not happen. ' Prof Kaplan said HARAMBE likely moved the boy away from the screaming crowd of people because of the noise. ' Screaming is only used in extreme situations with primates and it would have only raised stress levels. ' Link: http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/animal-behaviour-expert-says-silverback-gorilla-harambe-was-not-trying-to-harm-defenceless-child/news-story/94d83332fbb86df234989f66ae621d67 * PSYCHOLOGY TODAY In his Mark Bekoff, PhD, asked his friend Jennifer Miller, who worked with Gorillas, her analysis of the situation. I don't know much more about the behavior of gorillas than what I read in texts and research papers, so I asked my friend Jennifer Miller some questions, as she has worked with these beings. Jennifer wrote in an email, "Harambe's movements and positions during the encounter presented nothing more than curiosity and protection for an unfamiliar child inside his environment. What I learned from studying captive Western Lowland gorillas at the Cleveland Zoo was that they are deep contemplators. They are observers more than reactive aggressors. They move their eyes, lips, and heads slowly to communicate through subtle movements. They are rarely vocal and rarely dramatically expressive. Even when threatened by other gorillas, an individual will choose to avoid confrontation more often than engage in harmful behaviors. In avoidance, gorillas often run past other individuals beating their chest, stand still on all four limbs biting their lips or they will hit a wall, tree, anything close and then run off. The only protection that Harambe had that day was the zoo enclosure he was locked inside. That protection was violated by the human public, at which point Harambe became unprotected and was more at risk than the child. He did not stand a chance at human forgiveness as soon as the child entered his enclosure. And the proof lays in the bullet that shot him dead." When it comes to the ' highly talked about dragging of the child, she has an explanation which is based on animal behaviour. ' This type of behavior is common. Adult gorillas commonly do this to one another and to their offspring, in which case the infant gorilla typically climbs up the adult to avoid the ground. A human child would not know to do this.' ------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- QUESTIONS RAISED BY THE EVENTS: • THE PARENTS RESPONSIBILITY What should be the responsibility of parents in the case a child would access an enclosure and be either hurt or killed ? Should the responsibility of the parents be engaged or solely the responsibility of the Zoo ? • ZOO RESPONSIBILITY The situation with the Death of HARAMBE should push Zoos to review their Security Protocols, including the outside perimeter of enclosures, access only through locked doors with keys or cards. Any outside enclosures should have a roof or some sort to prevent not only escape from animals but intruders to get in ( See the example of HARAMBE's Death or the Civilian mauled by a Tiger in a Dehli Zoo ) For these reasons, I would urge you to take into consideration the elements listed below, as the HARAMBE ACT. You could've the first zoo to implement them, and hopefully, the first in a long serie of zoos in the future -------------------------------------------------------------------------- HARAMBE ACT: AIM : • Engage the Responsibility of any Zoo in the Death of any endangered and not endangered animal to be reviewed by the Counsel described below • Make sure Emergency procedures in such case are reviewed, known by every staff member and exercised once a year. Every Zoo personal should be First Aid certified as well as familiar with Emergency Procedures • Make sure the appropriate modifications are made to the Gorilla or any at risk animals enclosures to avoid such future incident. • Always prioritize non-lethal options ( Tranqulizers ) to implement in this type of situation. Lethal options should ONLY be used after non-lethal ones. • The only way to bypass the non-lethal option would be for the decision to be voted at 100% unanimity by a Counsel comprised of the Zoo Director/President, the Zoo Keeper in charge of the animal involved, a Veterinary Doctor ( Preferably the one involved with the zoo in question ) and a Medical Doctor ( to analyse the Human Risk Factor ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for your consideration Jeremie B. Pandemonium Paranormal -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sources : Video : http://youtu.be/v0KXkLbUx8E​ http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/23/us/florida-zookeeper-killed-violated-policy/​ http://m.timesofindia.com/city/delhi/Tiger-kills-man-in-Delhi-zoo-after-silently-watching-him-for-15-minutes/articleshow/43256551.cms​ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/31/ricky-gervais-joins-backlash-over-shooting-of-harambe-the-gorill/​ https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201605/why-was-the-gorilla-harambe-killed-the-cincinnati-zoo