Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has tweeted a memorial to the gorilla Harambe, saying that the fallen gorilla was a reminder for people to be a “voice for the voiceless.”
In a tweet, Stein wrote, “The killing of Harambe 3 months ago today reminds us to be a voice for the voiceless,” as well as providing an accompanying statement.
In the statement, Stein railed against the legality of zoos, saying that Harambe’s untimely death “highlights the need to adopt stronger legal protections for the rights of animals.”
“Harambe was killed by a zoo which raises revenues by selling tickets to see captive animals, including primates. While good emergency staff training might have prevented such a catastrophic outcome, the Green Party believes that captivity for such entertainment is ethically wrong and fundamentally exploitive and should be illegal,” she continued.
Harambe the gorilla was shot dead after a 3-year old managed to enter its enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo in May, causing uproar around the world. The gorilla has since become a popular Internet meme.
The Cincinnati Zoo last week deleted both its Facebook and Twitter accounts after telling the Associated Press that it was “not amused” by the ongoing jokes and Internet memes surrounding the dead gorilla, adding that “the zoo was still healing.”
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