People devastated by the death of Harambe the Gorilla gathered at the Cincinnati Zoo to mourn after zoo authorities killed the animal when a child fell into the enclosure.
The roughly two dozen activists who attended the vigil spoke to media cameras and held signs remembering the loss of the gorilla outside the Cincinnati Zoo.
Signs held by the protestors read “All Animals Lives Matter,” “R.I.P Harambe,” “Taken Too Soon,” and “Senseless Death,” as a framed picture of the gorilla was set up as a makeshift memorial.
“This is an action in response of a sensless (sic) death,” read a statement on the memorial Facebook page. “I know how we are all angry and upset over this situation. This demonstration is IN MEMORY OF HARAMBE.”
The vigil group was organized by Anthony Seta, an advocate at Animal Liberationists who made candles available during the two-hour vigil. Over three hundred people RSVP’d on the Facebook event page.
“This is not a protest against the zoo. I would like our signs to reflect our compassion for the loss of this being, not our anger at the zoo,” he added. “The reason for this is to honor the memory of a life lived in captivity.”
Below is one of the viral videos showing the 400-pound Harambe dragging the four-year-old child by the leg: