I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.”

-Obi Wan Kenobi

Harambe. The now iconic western lowland gorilla was shot and killed earlier this year. The incident occurred at 4:00 pm EDT on May 28, 2016 when a three year old boy climbed the three foot tall fence enclosing the gorilla pen and fell into the moat. Zoo officials immediately signaled for the gorillas to exit the enclosure. The two females in the enclosure quickly exited the Gorilla World Exhibit however, Harambe, a male western lowland gorilla, ignored zoo staff and went to examine the boy. Footage taken by witnesses to the event show Harambe picking up the child and violently dragging it through the water. Zoo officials claim that Harambe displayed aggressive behaviors, referred to as “strutting”, through his stance and the manner in which he walked. Such behaviors are performed by male gorillas in territorial stand offs and by females in defense of their young and usually precede violence. The zoo ultimately decided to kill Harambe so as to ensure the safety of the child.
Harambe was born in the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas. He was transferred from Gladys Porter to the Cincinnati Zoo in 2014 to integrate him into an adult gorilla group and develop his social skills. He was tragically killed the day after his seventeenth birthday. Yet today he is known to most internet meme aficionados as the most successful meme of 2016. How did this come to be?