Suruthi Bala

Everyone looked down into the 15-foot chasm that separated the gorillas from the public, which contained a small, water-filled moat at the bottom.

On the public side, there was a three-foot railing and about four feet of bushes between them and this gap.

On the gorillas' side, there was nothing.

At the bottom of the chasm was a three-year-old boy.

He had climbed through the railings and run through the bushes.

Not seeing the drop, he had fallen down into the shallow water below.

It's important to point out that while gorillas are remarkably similar to humans in a lot of ways, they are a lot more durable than we are, and that includes baby gorillas.

A quick Google search will bring up videos that show A. gorillas are very protective of their young and B. they fling their kids around like rag dolls.

If a male or female gorilla feels like their kid is in danger, they will not hesitate to grab that kid by the arm or leg and sprint to safety, violently dragging their kid behind them.

If their kid is being annoying, they also don't hesitate to smack them round the back of the head.

Hard.

Harambe did not hit the boy who had fallen into the enclosure, but he did panic and drag him from one end of the moat to the other by his leg in a way that must have been absolutely horrifying to watch.

And before we go on to the public reaction, which we all remember, unless you're too young to in which case go away,

we're going to clarify a few bits of the Harambe narrative.

We've watched several interviews with experts, including the highly respected late Jane Goodall, who dedicated her life to studying and lecturing on primate behaviour.

And every expert we saw agrees that Harambe was not trying to hurt the boy.

While nobody can tell what Harambe was actually thinking, none of his actions pointed towards any kind of deliberately violent intention.

But the experts we found all also agreed that Harambe did need to be shot.

With all of that in mind, let's talk about what happened after Harambe was shot.

Once the footage of the incident found its way onto social media, the public went completely feral.