White House remembers Harambe on what would've been his 27th birthday: ‘Forever in our hearts’

CINCINNATI, OHIO: The White House marked what would have been Harambe’s 27th birthday on Thursday with an eyebrow-raising tribute to the legendary gorilla who died in 2016.

The post was shared on X late Wednesday night, just ahead of the 10th anniversary of Harambe’s death at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. 

“Today, we remember a legend,” the White House wrote. “He became a symbol of loyalty, strength, chaos, unity, and the strange beauty of the internet, bringing millions of people together for one cause: never forgetting Harambe.”

The western lowland gorilla was shot and killed on May 28, 2016, after a four-year-old boy climbed into the gorilla enclosure. Witnesses watched as Harambe dragged the child through a stream inside the exhibit while zoo staff scrambled to respond.

Workers reportedly attempted to call Harambe away before opening fire when the gorilla refused to back off.

“Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news. And somehow, a decade later, his legacy still lives on,” the White House post concluded. “Gone, but never forgotten. Forever in our hearts.”

How Harambe became an internet folk hero

What followed Harambe’s death was a major uproar across the internet.

The “Justice for Harambe” movement exploded across social media almost immediately after the shooting. Five months later, hundreds gathered in London for a candlelight vigil honoring the gorilla.

The obsession eventually spilled into professional sports. Online retailer Fanatics even approved the sale of “Harambe” jerseys during the 2016 MLB and NFL seasons.

Harambe’s shot to prominence also overlapped with the closing stretch of President Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign. Just days after the gorilla was killed, Trump weighed in on the shooting.

“I thought it was so beautiful to watch that, you know, powerful, almost 500-pound gorilla, the way he dealt with that little boy,” Trump said at the time.

“But it just takes one second — one second — it’s not like it takes place over — well, he’s going to do it in 30 seconds from now. It just takes one little flick of his finger. And I will tell you they probably had no choice.”

It's worth noting that some snap polls ahead of the 2016 election suggested that as many as 5% of voters would rather have cast a ballot for Harambe than either Trump or Hillary Clinton.

Harambe’s life and the debate that never really ended

Harambe was born on May 27, 1999, at the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas.

Following his birth, the zoo held a naming contest. Contest winner Dan Van Coppenolle chose the name “Harambe,” inspired by the Swahili word harambee (meaning “pull together”) after hearing the song of the same name by Rita Marley, widow of Bob Marley.

In September 2014, Harambe was transferred to the Cincinnati Zoo to socialize and breed with other gorillas. Western lowland gorillas are critically endangered, and at the time of his death, there were believed to be only around 100,000 left in the wild.

The species typically lives between 30 and 40 years in the wild and can survive for more than 50 years in captivity.

After the shooting, zoo director Thane Maynard defended the decision to kill the gorilla to save the child.

“Our first response was to call the gorillas out of the exhibit,” he explained. “The two females complied, but Harambe did not. It is important to note that with the child still in the exhibit, tranquilizing the 450-pound gorilla was not an option. Tranquilizers do not take effect for several minutes, and the child was in imminent danger. On top of that, the impact from the dart could agitate the animal and cause the situation to get much worse.”

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