Pastor Perry Noble on people's reaction to gorilla Harambe's death: Americans have lost their minds

Authorities were put in a tight spot on May 28, having had to make a quick decision between taking down a 17-year-old gorilla held in captivity or risking the life of a 3-year-old boy who fell into his enclosure. The decision to shoot the 450-pound gorilla had caused an uproar, mainly against the child's parents for negligence, and a megachurch pastor deems that America has gone insane.

In an article titled "Americans Have Officially Lost Our Freakin' Minds!" Pastor Perry Noble wrote, "I feel bad for the gorilla...but...I would argue that human life simply has more value. The Bible states in Genesis 1:27 that God made man and woman (and no other creature) in His own image. Psalm 139 talks about how we were custom designed by the hands of our Creator."

Noble was primarily speaking about the petition called "Justice for Harambe" -- Harambe being the name of the deceased Western Lowland Gorilla -- to have the parents of the child investigated. The petition has so far been signed by more than 470,000 supporters, up from the 300,000 signatures at the time the pastor posted the article on May 31.

"I wonder if the same 300,000 people have been equally bothered by Christians being beheaded/tortured in the Middle East?" he wrote. "I wonder if the same 300,000 people were as upset when all of the dirt was exposed on planned parenthood? I wonder if the same 300,000 people were as upset when Dr. Kermitt Gosnell murdered a child after a botched abortion?"

According to the petition, witnesses at the Cincinnati Zoo heard the child saying that he wanted to get into enclosure and was attempting to get in through the barriers. He managed to crawl through and fell into the moat some 10 to 12 feel below. In a video, Harambe can be seen dragging the boy, but authorities could not use a tranquilizer because of the possibility of aggression. Their only option was to shoot him the animal.

The petitioners believe that the incident, and ultimately the death of Harambe, is due to the negligence of the parents to care for the child.

"We the undersigned feel the child's safety is paramount in this situation," the petition reads. "We believe that this negligence may be reflective of the child's home situation. We the undersigned actively encourage an investigation of the child's home environment in the interests of protecting the child and his siblings from further incidents of parental negligence that may result in serious bodily harm or even death."

The child was taken to a hospital with no major injuries. At the moment, there are still differing opinions, with some people saying that Harambe did not intend to kill the child and was even trying to protect him, because if he intended to hurt the boy, it would have been over in seconds. It was the screaming from people above, some believe, that had caused the gorilla to drag the child.

One of Harambe's former caretakers said the he was beautiful and gentle and never aggressive, although former zookeeper Amanda O'Donoughe told CNN that the male gorilla's posturing, expression, and action of dragging the child by the leg across the moat was "terrifying." 

According to NPR, animal rights group Stop Animal Exploitation Now! is calling for the United States Department of Agriculture to fine the Cincinnati Zoo for having failed both the public and Harambe due to an enclosure that "allowed a member of the public to gain access to a potentially dangerous animal." 

The Western Lowland Gorilla is a critically endangered species, with less than 175,000 in the wild, reports the National Geographic, and 360 of the 765 kept in zoos were bred through the captive breeding program