Gorilla of Marco’s Dreams
by Clay Jones
Someone’s going to accuse me of being heartless, tasteless, and crass with this cartoon. Well, yeah. I don’t have too many sacred cows. However, if the child had died I wouldn’t have even considered drawing this cartoon. I am sorry the Gorilla was killed.
In case you get your news from editorial cartoons, a four-year-old child fell into the gorilla pet at the Cincinnati Zoo on Sunday. The child was hurt but he’s going to be OK. But before anyone knew that, the gorilla was dragging the child through some water and very interested. Zoo keepers decided the only way to be sure the child wouldn’t be killed was to shoot and kill the gorilla. It is very sad the gorilla had to die.
A lot of people think the zoo reacted poorly. Some say he should have been tranquilized but that can take up to ten minutes to work after the injection. It might have also upset the gorilla and further endangered the child. Other people say the gorilla wasn’t going to hurt the kid and was trying to protect it. Yeah, nobody knows that. Others say the gorilla’s life is just important as the child’s. No, it’s not. I have a little experience with this as I briefly worked in a zoo before I became a professional smart ass (back before I went pro).
I support animal rights but that shouldn’t, no pun intended, trump the life of a child. Sorry.
On the other end of this, Marco Rubio is kissing some serious Trump booty. He’s apologizing for insinuating The Donald has a tiny penis. John Miller says it’s “yuuuuuuge.” He’s lobbying to speak in support of Trump at the RNC National Convention. He’s denied he’d be interested in the Veep slot, but Marco doesn’t have a job after January. Yeah, he’s sucking up for it. And you know what? Monkeying with Trump will damage his career.
I’m not advocating anyone shoot Trump, but maybe he could take a downer every now and then.
I avoided drawing Trump for six cartoons last week and now I’ve monkeyed around and drawn three in a row. I had three other subjects in mind for my next cartoon but I really couldn’t resist drawing a gorilla. That was an urge I resisted successfully during the New York primaries and I sat back and watched twelve other cartoonists draw a gorilla Trump on top of the Empire State building.
Update: In the hours since I posted this cartoon there’s been a bunch of comments about how horrible the parents are. Many are saying they’re they ones who should have been shot. I don’t see how that would have helped the child.
I don’t know if these are good parents. I also don’t know if they’re not. Neither do you. I do know as a parent, and a former child myself, that stuff happens. Every child gets into a dangerous situation. People who say the parents are to blame, either don’t have kids, or they don’t remember that they do and have also forgotten every dangerous and near-death experience their child ever had.
Stop being a parenting expert on the internet. Especially before you have any information. Yes, I’m sure the parents could have done a better job in this situation, but again, stuff happens. Even overprotective mama Gump couldn’t keep track of little Forrest every day. He was even chased by bullies and had to run, Forrest, run. One, or even a few instances, of a child encountering a dangerous situation does not make bad parents. If it’s something that’s frequent, then you might need to call protective services.
I think a better question might be: Why is it so easy for a child to fall into a gorilla pit?