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Harambe memes chase Cincinnati Zoo off Twitter, Facebook

Cincinnati Zoo has deleted its social media accounts after being pestered by Harambe memes.

Nicole Gallucci

on August 23, 2016

Harambe memes chase Cincinnati Zoo off Twitter, Facebook

Credit: mashable composite: OHN SOMMERS II/GETTY IMAGES and Joshhpointto/twitter

It's time to give The Cincinnati Zoo a break.

It's been three months since the death of Harambe, the western lowland gorilla who was shot and killed after grabbing a 4-year-old boy and dragging him across his exhibit, but people are still bombarding The Cincinnati Zoo with harsh words, petitions and protest memes.

On Monday night, the zoo deleted its social media accounts to prove once and for all that it does not find the continual Harambe jokes amusing in the slightest.

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In the three months since Harambe's death, The Cincinnati Zoo has been the target of countless memes and blunt, hurtful comments related to the shooting.

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The situation escalated when the zoo's director Thane Maynard's personal Twitter account was hacked on Sunday, resulting in a number of tweets about Harambe. On Monday morning, Maynard commented on the public activity surrounding the event explaining, "We are not amused by the memes, petitions and signs about Harambe."

"The constant mention of Harambe makes moving forward more difficult for us."

"Our zoo family is still healing, and the constant mention of Harambe makes moving forward more difficult for us." he said. "We are honoring Harambe by redoubling our gorilla conservation efforts and encouraging others to join us."

Despite Maynard's plea to the people, the memes continued to roll out, and by Monday night The Cincinnati Zoo had deleted both its Facebook and Twitter accounts.

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Though the accounts have been deleted, some users are still tweeting harsh messages at the zoo and there does not seem to be an end in sight to the outrage.

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The Associated Press contributed reporting.

Topics Animals Social Media Memes

Nicole Gallucci

Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5.