Ten years after his death, Harambe the gorilla has received an unexpected tribute from the White House. The post, shared on social media, described the animal as a 'true patriot' and an 'icon that became part of internet history, American culture, and an entire generation’s timeline'.
Harambe was shot dead on 28 May 2016 after a four-year-old boy climbed through a barrier and fell into his enclosure at Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio. The incident sparked global outrage, with some witnesses claiming Harambe was acting protectively over the child. The boy's parents, Michelle Gregg and Deonne Dickerson, even received death threats following the gorilla's death.
Despite the controversy, animal experts defended the zoo's decision to shoot rather than tranquilise the animal, citing similar incidents in 1986 and 1996 where gorillas acted protectively towards children who entered their enclosures. Jerry Stones, who raised Harambe from birth, described losing him as 'like losing a member of the family', but acknowledged the child was in danger.
A decade on, Harambe remains a pop culture icon, remembered with candle vigils as far afield as London’s Hyde Park. The White House tribute noted that he 'became a symbol of loyalty, strength, chaos, unity, and the strange beauty of the internet, bringing millions of people together for one cause: never forgetting Harambe'.
