From Binti Jua to Harambe — Two Different Outcomes
The 1996 rescue is often compared with the tragic 2016 incident at the Cincinnati Zoo, where a 17-year-old gorilla named Harambe was shot after a young boy fell into his enclosure. Unlike Binti Jua’s protective actions, Harambe was seen dragging the child, leading zoo officials to make a split-second decision to kill him. The contrast between these two cases highlights both the unpredictability of wild animals and the complex ethical dilemmas faced by zoos. Today, Binti Jua still resides at Brookfield Zoo, while her daughter Koola has grown and even had her own offspring, continuing the family line of one of the world’s most famous gorillas.