There was an article on the news last about a 4 year old boy who fell into a gorilla enclosure in America. The gorilla took the boy into it’s care, holding him under his tummy as if he was protecting him. Witnesses cried from the view areas, including the boy’s mother, repeatedly shouting ‘i love you’ to him as the 4 year old tried to remain calm and strong. I’m not sure how long the boy was in the enclosure for, but the keepers thought it was the best decision to shoot Harambe in order to safe the boys life, even though the gorilla wasn’t necessarily doing anything to harm the child.

So awful. What an awful situation.

So silly though I don’t think they should have shot Harambe. I definitely understand why they had to somehow get him away from the child in a way that wouldn’t hurt the child. and I understand how even though Harambe wasn’t evidently hurting the child, you never know because he is an animal – and the zoo’s priority is too keep their customers and the public safe. But I don’t understand why they didn’t shoot him with a dart to knock him out instead of shooting him with a bullet? They said that shooting him was the safest way because there was a huge risk of the 200 kg animal falling onto the boy and killing him, but what difference would it make shooting him with a dart and a gun? So silly.

It also shows how the media manipulates certain material. In this case the footage from a witness recorded on their phone was edited so specific sections weren’t shown. This material apparently included the gorilla dragging the boy through the water, which could have definitely affected and concerned various audience’s.

That was in America. For our PB4 audio essay, our group focussed on the concept of trigger warnings in the United States, and this is definitely an excellent example. The first news footage of this incident was from America, and they cancelled out the footage of dragging the boy through the water. However, on the project tonight they spoke about the incident and they actually showed this footage not only the full version including dragging through the water, but in higher definition quality so it was much more clearer.

It’s just so interesting to see how the exact same story with the same footage used is shown in different countries. Americans tend to be more conservative when it comes to the footage they see especially on social media but also definitely the news.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3614480/Small-child-falls-gorilla-enclosure-zoo.html