Jabari had enough

In the past I have written about culture wars or the lack ofunderstanding between cultures.  Prejudice, greed, orsometimes lack of education has caused so much devastation amonginhabitants of our planet.

There was a culture war last week at the Dallas Zoo.  Itwas a war between Homo sapiens (wise men) and Gorillagorilla.  As usual, Homo sapiens won the battle, but are theywinning the war?

Jabari, a 300-pound gorilla, somehow managed to escape hishabitat, bite and physically throw around women andchildren in a close proximity. The scene was described as”pandemonium,”  which is defined as, “anutterly lawless, riotous place or assemblage.”

 According to news accounts the pandemonium came to an endwhen Jabari stepped out from behind some trees and met the giantsof the Homo sapien species — SWAT team members.  Theydid what they are trained to do when an angry 300-pound animal isnot contained. 

Professor Ken Kaemmerer, curator at the Dallas Zoo and myprofessor, stated that a 350-pound angry gorilla can kill a humanin seconds.  He also stated that gorillas in the13-19-year-old range have raging hormones.  They are lookingfor females to mate with and form a group. 

He repeatedly explained to me that the SWAT team did what theywere trained to do. He said he just wishes Jabari had not steppedout in front of them. 

One national expert on gorillas has stated that he felt thepandemonium had caused the gorilla to be very frightened. 

The events at the zoo were a terrible tragedy.  I in no waywant to diminish the suffering of the women and children whowere injured or those who witnessed the events.  Womenand children also frequently suffer because of the actions of theirown species.

I am taking a class entitled “Apes and Monkeys” thissemester. It has educated me to see the diversity of primatesas well as their beauty.  They are so fascinating toobserve.  I have spent time at the Dallas Zoo this semesterresearching a species of primates for a monograph. 

What I have learned from my time at the zoo is that the DallasZoo is a wonderful place to visit.  The primates are beautifulanimals with which God has blessed earth as well as man. Theanimals at the zoo are in their own habitats. When humansvisit, they forget they are guests in someone’s home. It is unfortunate that some humans do not view primates as having aculture.

Each time I visit the zoo to do my research I also haveopportunity to observe the Homo sapiens species.  Some membersof that species have badly behaved offspring. The adults ofthat species allow their children to throw large branches at smallprimates while they stand beside them laughing. They allowtheir young to scream “Hey! Hey!” at the animals as ifthe animal is going to turn and reply, “Yes?”

Some humans demean the animals when they visit thezoo. They believe for some reason that if they raise theirvoice a number of decibels when they speak to them, that theanimals can hear them better.  They ask them obnoxiousquestions, only to reply for the animal with even more obnoxiousanswers. 

I have considered, on occasion, that perhaps the wrong speciesis sitting in the cage.

It has been written in several papers that a group of childrenwere believed to have been teasing (tormenting) Jabari prior to hisescape.  The species Homo sapiens also has offspring withraging hormones.  Hearsay now says teenagers had been throwingrocks at Jabari. 

The past two weeks of spring break has increased attendance atthe zoo. 

If some of the Homo sapiens have behaved as I have seen thembehave on busy weekends, I believe Jabari had had his fill of twoweeks of spring break. 

Animals in zoos and sanctuaries are often there because they areendangered or nearing extinction. As the rain forests andhabitats of primates are destroyed due to deforestation, animalsare also disappearing due to the destruction of their habitats,hunting or capture for use as private pets.

Why is it we can drive all over the city of Dallas and seebeautiful cars, beautiful clothes and beautiful people, but our zoolacks the needed resources.  Where do we place our valuesystem in this city?

Perhaps if King Kong was not the most recognized movieregarding gorillas the response last week may have been different.The words of a song by the Temptations came to mind as I wasthinking about humans’ response to gorillas: “Tell you,it was just my ‘magination runnin’ away withme. 

I read in one news article that a young child was afraid toreturn to the zoo because of the gorilla”attack.”  Dear child, you are afraid of the wrongspecies.

Deborah Currie is a junior social science major. She may bereached at [email protected].