The Killing of Harambe And Why It Had To Be Done

No story within the last 24 hours has split public opinion like that of the four-year boy that fell into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo and drew the curiosity of a 17 year-old gorilla named Harambe.
Harambe no doubt was curious of what fell into his lair.
But that curiosity cost Harambe his life as zoo officials shot Harmabe dead to save the boy, identified as Isiah Dickerson.
Some want to blame the parents of the boy for not paying better attention.
Some are elevating Harambe to such human status that they would like the mom to face charges.
There is even those that are using the tragic event to question the existence of public zoos.
Let's start right there.
Zoos used to be the purview of the rich and famous. One of the most wealthiest men in the United States, William Randolph Hearst, in fact, had a zoo at the famous San Simeon ranch. Now the masses can view exotic animals close up. Sorry but the vast majority of people will not be able to see many of the animals in zoos in their natural habitat. Knowledge of animals and how the live and interact should not be only for those that can afford it. Zoos also serve a purpose in doing research about all kinds of animals. No, not harmful research but trying to learn about what makes animals tick. Our modern zeal to be more humane with animals has taken away the reality that we know little if anything about those that we share this planet with. While this is an interesting article, the writer is clearly against the concept of breeding animals that will only know the life of being in a zoo. It is a clear quandary, but I support zoos and the good that they do.
There is no question that apes and or gorillas are very smart animals. They are the closest to humans in the animal kingdom. But at the end of the day, Harambe was an animal and when the chips are down, the brass tacks if you will, a human being must be protected and that is why the zoo officials made the gruesome decision to kill Harambe. Is it possible that a tranquilizer dart could have done the job? Well, I take the word of the former head zookeeper of the Cincinnati Zoo, Dr. Jack Hanna. According to Dr. Hanna, a tranquilizer dart would have taken about five to 10 minutes to work. Keep in mind that we are dealing with a four-year-old child, not an adult who might have had the ability to figure out what to do once Harambe was hit with a tranquilizer dart. According to the first linked article in The Daily Mail, it does appear that Harambe may have been in fact trying to protect young Isiah. Here is video. To us humans, it appears that at some point, Harambe is dragging Isiah like a rag doll. But then there is a curious moment when Harambe clearly is showing what can only be described as affection for Isiah. I think that it is clear that both are scared for different reasons. After all, Isiah invaded Harambe's space. Being so domesticated, he had no idea who or what this was. Was Isiah a threat? This is what we do not know about gorillas. It was not the time to take a chance. The zoo did the right thing.
Now the craziness of the Internet had some people trying to equate the fact that the gorilla was taken out and a white child was protected. That somehow, this whole episode is a sign of the eeeeevvvvviiiiilllll "White privilege".
The fact is that Isiah Dickerson is black. As are his parents.
And here is where the weirdness of the internet rears it's ugly head.
The fact is that there is no doubt the mother, Michelle Gregg, and the father, Deonne Dickerson, have to bear some responsibility for not paying better attention to Isiah in the first place. Not that it matters per se, but Mr Dickerson is not exactly a model citizen as this article points out. Some people are somehow trying to tie that point into a larger point that the parents do bear some responsibility. They do. No matter what, I think that conservationist Jeff Corwin is spot on here. That zoos are not baby sitters. They are serious places and yes, they have wild animals. People may think that Mr. Corwin is wrong in saying what he said but there are numerous reports that the parents were distracted by the other children and not paying close attention to Isiah. In fact there are reports that Isiah said that he wanted to swim with the gorillas. Again, let me remind the reader that zoos contain wild animals. No matter how domesticated they are, one can not take lightly the fact that Harambe was all of 400 pounds. Isiah may have been at the most what, 50 pounds?! It does appear that there will be an investigation into all of the events and that is clearly warranted.
Sadly, the Cincinnati Zoo is in a no-win situation but did the right thing in killing the gorilla Harambe to save the life of Isiah Dickerson.

Is This Presidential Election Going To The Dogs?

It is amazing that as the United States appears to be at a tipping point economically, socially and our standing as the world's last superpower, this presidential election is becoming one about. . .dogs.
It started when Team Dear Leader, President Obama continued to attack Mitt Romney over an event that happened 29 years ago.
That event is Seamusgate as it is now being called.
That was when the family Romney took a driving trip from Belmont, Massachusetts to a family cottage in the Canadian province of Ontario.
The drive was 12 hours.
The family at this point was full. Mr. Romney, wife Ann and all five of the boys for a total of seven people.
But there is the family dog, Seamus the Irish Setter.
And the family car was a Chevy Caprice station wagon.
Below is a photo of Seamus. Pretty big dog, eh?!


And below that is what the Chevy Caprice station wagon looked like in 1983.

OK, so even though it is a small photo of the car, it barely had room for the people.
So, what to do about Seamus if he is going to join the family?
Easy.
Have a kennel, put it on top of the car and voila! Seamus can join the family.
Well, if you read the link, it did not go all that well.
Seamus, to be kind, got car sick and beautiful stream of diarrhea streamed from the roof down the car windows.
Now, it probably was not the best thing in retrospect to do. But hey, the family all wanted to be on vacation together.
And Seamus, he was family.
Needless to say, the animal "rights" crowd went ballistic over this tale.
And Team Dear Leader, President Obama, took advantage of this situation.
Top political operative David Axelrod tweeted a photo of the Dear Leader, President Obama, with the First Dog, Bo, in the presidential limo with the Dear Leader, President Obama.
The comment?
"How loving owners transport their dogs."
Oops! Team Obama bad!
Too bad that they forgot a little anecdote in the pre-presidential tome written by then Barack Obama, "Dreams From My Father".
Thanks to the doggedly intrepid work of the Daily Caller's Jim Treacher, we have this direct from the best-selling book:

“With Lolo, I learned how to eat small green chill peppers raw with dinner (plenty of rice), and, away from the dinner table, I was introduced to dog meat (tough), snake meat (tougher), and roasted grasshopper (crunchy). Like many Indonesians, Lolo followed a brand of Islam that could make room for the remnants of more ancient animist and Hindu faiths. He explained that a man took on the powers of whatever he ate: One day soon, he promised, he would bring home a piece of tiger meat for us to share.”
YIKES!
It appears that young Barack was eating his way through the animal kingdom while in Indonesia.
Snake, check.
Grasshopper, check.
D o g, check!
And at one point, young Master Obama's stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, even promised tiger meat.
I wonder if Lolo knew Charlie Sheen at any point?!
So, our Dear Leader, President Obama, is. . a. . .dog eater!
In the young gals modern vernacular, EEEEEUUUUUWWWWW!!!!!
Now Team Obama is fighting back by suggesting that Team Romney is picking on a then-10-year-old Obama who was in a foreign land and surely under some kind of pressure to adapt to his new family.
OK, I think that by 10 years old, even in a foreign land and knowing that dogs, well they are more man's best friend rather than whats for dinner.
Young Master Obama could have simply and politely declined the delicacy.
But he did not. And he wrote it in his own words.
Now we do not have a photo as to what kind of dog then Master Obama ate. But it kind of makes this photo a little scary*.

Once again.
EEEEEUUUUUWWWWW!!!!!
Now there is a lot to make fun about for both dudes.
One problem is that both did what they did when they were younger and less unacceptable as it is now.
I remember many times riding in the back of an open pickup truck as a kid. I'm still here. And ir sure was not unusual to see dogs doing the same thing then.
As far as eating dog, in many lands it was and still is a delicacy as noted.
So in a way, yeah, I am defending both for doing what was OK seemingly now way back when.
Oh but that does not mean we can not have a little fun with this.
While we are having fun with Doggate, we must remember this.
The upcoming election is about very serious issues from the economy to whether or not the United States will continue to even be a superpower.
Because if we get it wrong, this nation as we know it will go to the dogs.
So, I will vote for the dude that put the dog on top of the car rather than the roof of his mouth!

*photo from Ace of Spades.