Harry, 1986-2016
Following the the death of ‘Harry’ the adult silverback and father of six who died after a short illness at Dublin Zoo on Sunday.
In 2009, Harry was featured in Animal Rights Action Network (Aran) investigation into the gorilla enclosure that forced Dublin Zoo to upgrade facilities.
John Carmody, of ARAN, writes:
“Sadly Harry has never really known what nature intended for him and his family which is the lust forests and rivers of the Congo, a far cry from life at Dublin Zoo,
Instead, he has known nothing but a concrete and glass enclosure with a few gimmicks thrown in to replicate the gawking onlookers.
Dublin Zoo needs to do what SeaWorld is doing and that is to end any further breeding of gorillas, commit to naturally phasing out the exhibit and to replace it with a modern, digital interaction experience of what life is like in the natural home of Harry and his species.”
Dublin Zoo’s Harry the gorilla (29) dies after short illness (Irish Times)
Pic: 98FM
Meanwhile…
@broadsheet_ie Harry’s off to the jungle in the sky pic.twitter.com/MZwT1ngw7i
— SaintThomas (@SaintThomasLOL) May 31, 2016
100% gone to a better place
Have you seen the current Gorilla enclosure. Pretty nice place
But I thought the whole point of zoos was so people could go and see the animals in the flesh, so that they can have a proper appreciation and understanding? Thus leading to conservation? Nobody will go to see a digital display surely? And will it have the same effect as having live animals? Also, isn’t it better to have established zoo breeding programs in case of endangerment of the species? Aren’t mountain gorillas protected? And endangered?
yes
The scimitar horned oryx is extinct in the wild but breeding programs like the one in dublin zoo is keeping its population alive.
“a few gimmicks thrown in to replicate the gawking onlookers” T
his doesn’t seem to make sense. Am I missing something or are there words missing?
I actually copy/pasted the same part of that sentence to post in here to see what this was supposed to mean
I googled “define replicate” cos I thought I was losing my mind.
placate
Poor Harry, missing out on those ‘lust forests’
and replicated gawkers
lusty forests
now were would ya find a lusty forest
clusty farmets
Now fh’where wu’dd ye find a crushty bartlet
ARAN are a pack of eejiits. Stick your veganism up your nostrils
If people cared about income inequality or 700 refugees dying on a boat as they did about a gorilla being shot because of bad parenting we would all be in a better place….
That’s a different story Fluffy.
Why do these things always have to be mutually exclusive? You don’t know if the author cares about other issues or not.
You know what Stephen, you’re right. Fluffy may have a broad range of interests.
I also can only care about one thing at a time. That’s why I didn’t save my family from a burning house while I didn’t know who Negan killed.
It was Glen.
Phew. Now, if i start caring about the refugees does that mean I can safely ignore the homeless?
Homeless before refugees. We have to look after our own before de foreigners.
SeaWorld has ended the breeding of gorillas. Sorry, what?
yes, they kept on drowning
i LOLed
That was good.
Kudos.
Very funny!
Victorian zoos were awful places but I think they do a lot of good work in terms of conservation and education, in the western world at least.
There’s also a really good passage on why animals are perfectly happy in a well run zoo in Life of Pi that I won’t attempt to paraphrase. But another reason to read that book.
That’s one of the most awful passages of an almost offensively poor book. I’m not particularly against zoos but the argument the author posits – that animals crave safety and security and stick to small areas in the wild, and therefore are perfectly happy being imprisoned in small zoo enclosures – was among the stupidest things I’ve ever read in a novel.
God I hated that book.
I didn’t really like it either. It’s very silly.
Ah sure look, at least he wasn’t shot dead like the buck in Cincinatti.
Male gorillas are called silverbacks. Not bucks. Everyone knows that Murtles.
ARAN can go kiss my left vegetable.
Your supplements were researched and formulated through animal testing wahahahahaha! Natural me hole.
I don’t think ARAN make supliments
I was having a stretch at the vegans like… don’t mind me, I go on tangents.
I know a few people in Aran and only one is a vegan. I’ve also lived with vegans quite a lot and none have used supplements, most use food.
I know a vegan (and quite a few vegetarians) who would bore the hoop clean off you banging on about how great they are. While wearing leather boots. And eating Haribo jellies. So whilst they’ll gladly wear the outside of, and eat the skeleton of, an animal, woe betide anyone who suggests putting the bit in the middle to good use.
Then they’re neither vegans or vegetarians. Tell them that.
I know a meat eater who killed a man!
I know a man for whom the divisive nature of comparative eating habits became so contentious and aggravating he refrained from commenting about the issue on the internet.
A vegan not using supplements…. I pity the fool! :)
I hope they are not espousing others do the same, that’d be irresponsible like.
You don’t need supplements if your diet is good clampers. The closest vegans need get is having food fortified with b12. Whether that counts as a supplement or not is up to argument.
All the vegan websites I’ve looked at all recommend supplementing with B-12 and all of them said it is dangerous not to.
Fortified food, is a supplement, maybe they get around the issue that way…. https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-and-health/vitamins-minerals-and-nutrients/vitamin-b12-your-key-facts/what-every-vegan-should-know-about-vitamin-b12
Perhaps the zoo, can stop its breeding programme for snow leopards & Amur tigers. Sure the 400 or so left in the wild will thrive
Perhaps we could appreciate the benefits of breeding programs for some species while supporting other species to remain in the wild where they belong.
“I’m sorry Don, i’m going to have to stop you there. This is the internet. Please pick a side.”
Apologies. Won’t happen again
You’re gonna need a longer balancing poll to avoid the sides !
Like hovering over a bowl, trying not to get a skidmark on the side, it’s a bugger, but worth the effort in the end, and saves on cleaning products.
I’m here, all weak.
Sad to hear.
Between this and that poor gorilla in the States (the Zoo, not the Republican nominee), I’d say Roddy Doyle can’t wait to pen another of his wojous ‘pub talks’ about it…….
God help us…
Forced to read them, are you?
Poor thing.
“and father of six”
He’s not a human so stop describing in human terms you childish fools rebelling against your privileged upbringing until that gets boring and you need cash and rejoin conservative middle class Irish culture with a vigour even your parents would be shocked by.
I was born into a life of servitude, chained to a desk by gormless middle managers and burdened with a lifetime of debt sold to me by the Irish dream, home ownership.
If only I had been born into the life of a wandering hunter gatherer, free to roam the plains, forage for food and be killed by a wild animal or disease at an early age.
At 29, it is most likely that Harry would have been butchered in the wild and eaten as bush tucker by the lads hiding out in Uganda, fleeing genocide in Rwanda.
Dwell on that before you wring your hand and ponder which is the less distressing outcome to a life.
No you weren’t. Choose.
This piece of life advice was brought to you by Sun Life. Life Assurance for any Life!
well the debt slavery better work out because lets face it the comedic online commentary won’t pay the bills
Would a State Funeral be too much to ask for with Micheal D doing the honours.