Harambe

Bio:
Harambe (born Harambe on May 27, 1999 at the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas), was a 17-year-old endangered Silverback lowland gorilla. Harambe was moved to the Cincinnati Zoo in 2014 after outgrowing his environment at Gladys Porter, and quickly became a beloved fixture at their Gorilla World habitat. He was described as “intelligent and curious” by his handlers. On May 28, 2016, four-year-old Isaiah Gregg snuck into Gorilla World and fell into the moat. Harambe approached him, and carried him around the habitat. Scared that Harambe, at 419 pounds, could kill Isaiah, the zoo’s emergency response team made the hard decision to fatally shoot him. Harambe was one of the last remaining lowland gorillas; only about 175,000 still exist.

Best Known For:
Harambe is best known as the gorilla killed at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Personal Life:
He was a gorilla, so…didn’t have one. But when Harambe joined Gorilla World, he was placed in a special group with two older females, Chewie and Mara — not for breeding purposes, but for companionship and social interaction; the Cincinnati Zoo has 10 gorillas in total.