There's been a huge reaction to the story that broke earlier this week regarding Harambe the gorilla. The majority of people are outraged that such a beautiful animal was shot dead after a toddler fell into a gorilla exhibit at a Cincinnati Zoo.
Many people, including the 478,000+ supporters who have signed an online petition, are calling for the parents of the toddler to be prosecuted, citing 'parental negligence' amongst other things. Memes have been appearing all over social media accounts also calling for the heads of the parents and asking why the 17 year-old gorilla needed to be killed.
These same people, rightly or wrongly, are entitled to their opinions. One does, however, have to ask them one simple question. If it were your child that fell 12ft into a gorilla pen, would you just want to wait and see what happened?
Animal cruelty pulls at the heart strings - we see photos of badly treated dogs or cats and we are quick enough to let our feelings known by signing petitions or sharing posters and memes to our social media pages supporting the need for animal cruelty to stop ~ and rightly so.
I'm an animal lover, first and foremost. I'm also a lover of human beings.
Here's just one story that hasn't had nearly half a million people signing a petition or many more voicing their opinions on social media.
During the month of November, in 2012, 14-year-old Amy El-Keria (above) used her football scarf to hang herself in the Priory at Ticehurst in Sussex, UK.
Whilst at the Priory, Amy was forcibly sedated with medication on at least two occasions.
The author of AntiDepAware, Brian, followed the case closely, he writes...
"There were also several incidents where Amy was physically restrained by staff, sometimes for 15 minutes at a time. The last incident occurred the day before her death, when Amy was restrained by five members of staff for 15 minutes and orally sedated.
"The jury also heard that the Priory had a high reliance on agency staff, including some with no psychiatric experience, and insufficient time to read patients’ paperwork or clinical notes.
"On the day she died, Amy told a member of staff she wanted to kill herself. Later that evening, a member of staff found her door locked and realised Amy had decided to try to end her life."
Yet still we have no memes for Amy. We have no petitions calling for heads to roll at The Priory Hospital in Sussex.
Why?
Amy was a troubled young girl, she, like millions of other children world-wide, had been labelled - she was, according to those who treated her, mentally ill.
Her mother, Tania El-Keria, said: "Amy was my most loved youngest daughter, sister, niece and granddaughter with her whole life ahead of her. She had a warm heart and a great sense of humour. She never liked to see people treated unfairly and would be the first to stand and say ‘that’s not right.
"For 14 years we kept Amy safe. In less than three months under the care of the Priory she was dead. The only thing that has kept me going since her death nearly four years ago has been the need to achieve justice for my Amy."
No public outcry. In fact, if the story managed to appear on the news feed of Facebook many people, including the majority of those who expressed an opinion about Harambe the gorilla, will have ignored it, not even bothered to click on the link where they would have learned so much about the way children are being mistreated by adults who are, apparently, there to help.
Amy wasn't shot but she did fall. She fell into the system and once in it there was no marksmen their to help fend off her immediate threat.
Our priorities really need looking at when we are outraged that a gorilla was killed because of parent neglect and yet we show no emotion or we refuse to read the story of the innocent 14 year-old Amy El-Keria.
Shame on you all.
Amy, aged 14 - http://antidepaware.co.uk/amy-aged-14/
Bob Fiddaman
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