Actress Kaley Cuoco has weighed in on the debate around the shooting of 17-year-old gorilla, Harambe, at Cincinatti Zoo.
In an impassioned Instagram post, The Big Bang Star slammed the zoo for killing Harambe, calling it just another “senseless” act.
“…but once again, another senseless horrendous animal being killed over people not using their brains.”
The gorilla was shot but zoo keepers at the weekend after a four year old boy accidentally climbed through fencing and fell into the enclosure.
Footage shows the little boy being dragged through water while onlookers – including his mother- watch on in horror.
Cuoco believes people have completely misrepresented the behaviour of the male gorilla, who she believes did not deserve to die.
Kaley is a fierce animal activist.
"If you watch the footage, you see this gorgeous animal holding that child's hand. Do with that what you will," she wrote.
The actress also went as far to say that Harambe was probably better off dead than alive in the zoo.
"As sad as this makes me, a part of me is happy for that amazing creature doesn't have to live in captivity another day."
Cuoco didn't expect for her post to go unnoticed and and so called on readers to "bring on the hate!!!!"
"I'm sure I will get tons of backlash (per usual) I mean let's be honest, I wear the wrong sweatpants and the entire world has something to say about it."
Despite her declaration to bring on the backlash, Cuoco has been widely supported, with many people opting to either blame the zoo for mishandling the incident or the parents for not watching the child.
"The parents are to be blamed for not watching their child. The child could have been killed in the 15 foot fall before any gorilla was involved. Take responsibility for your children people," one user wrote.
Want to know more about Harmabe and the story? (Post continues after video.)
Another commented, "Totally agree with you! We only have less that 900 gorillas in this world, all due to our egotistical decisions. We humans are destroying this planet."
This isn't the first time Cuoco - who is an animal activist - has spoken out about animal mistreatment.
She previously called "humanity a joke" after two lions were reportedly shot dead by zookeepers after a man jumped into the enclosure and he was subsequently mauled.
"I know the may I saw, the more trouble I will get into but seriously what is this world coming to?? Humanity is a joke. If you are that stupid, you deserve everything that happens to you."
Top Comments
Yes Anon..what if it was your own child..the child ending with braindamage or in a wheelchair? Would you take the risk of letting a ruff gorilla toy around with it? Or is the life of the gorilla of equal value to that of the boy?....in finality ..the whole situation would not have occurred...if the Zoo had anticipated that children do unexpected and stupid thing to get to the animals..and that parents are not familiar with this environment and all its distractions...they are watching the animls too surrounded by many people at least you may expect from a Zoo to make it impossible for toddlers to get close to the animals
Who knows what the gorilla might have done, I'm assuming the zoo people are the experts I doubt they would have taken the decision lightly. I wonder what the world would have said if they hasn't shot the gorilla then the boy got killed?
On another note I realise it's not possible to know for sure what the gorilla would have done but it looked pretty full on when he dragged the kid through the water, maybe the gorilla was just trying to drag the kid away from all the noise but that didn't look too gentle to me. What do others think?
In any case I realise cats and gorillas are different animals but I've seen my cat taunt a poor mouse and it spends a lot of time just looking at it and when the mouse runs off then it pounces then it holds the mouse for a while and just look at it for a while. It's quite cruel and goes on for ages you would think the cat had no intention of killing it. I wanted to intercede but then I need the cat to stop mice coming into the house but it really upset me to see the psychological stress it was putting this poor mouse under. So the point is with cats they may look like they are doing nothing but are actually terrifying their prey into submission. I realise gorillas are different but just because it was hanging on to it doesn't mean that it wasn't going to do something bad to the little boy. And certainly that pulling the kid underwater did not look gentle to me, though maybe they do to their own babies?