Bloom County, the edgy political comic strip that now lives on social media, cut to the heart of the problem over the killing of a gorilla at a Cincinnati zoo to save a child who had fallen in the cage.

A living room debate among the Bloom County principals on the “Men’s Squabble Couch” questioned police, zoo officials, and parents in the incident that resulted in the gorilla’s death. Opus, the penguin/naif, sought out an answer to his own burning question: “Why was there a gorilla in Cincinnati?”

Investigators are now looking at the actions and backgrounds of the parents of the 3-year-old boy who slipped through a space in the fence and fell into the moat below where a 17-year-old Silverback gorilla named Harambe grabbed the child and dragged him around the pen like a Raggedy Andy doll.

At the same time, animal lovers around the world reacting to the viral video are up in arms over the shooting, blaming the mother for being negligent, claiming officials should have used tranquilizers, and showing far more concern over the fate of an animal than the well-being of a toddler.

What’s escaping both is each side – the gorilla and the humans – did what comes natural. The gorilla saw something in his habitat and took possession of it. Humans, who are animals, reacted to protect their young. There’s not a lot of difference.

But the bigger question is why do we keep animals in a manufactured habitat for visitors to gawk at? The question becomes even more central when, looking at depleted public funds, the money needed to care for and maintain the zoos is becoming tighter and tighter. In Massachusetts, the House offered a slight increase over last year’s budget for the operations of the Franklin Park and Stoneham zoos while the Senate looked to cut it by nearly 25 percent. It wasn’t that long ago that officials at Franklin Park said they may be forced to euthanize animals because of budget cuts.

Certainly, there is a learning aspect to zoos, for children to view animals they may never encounter except in books, on the internet, and on screens. But it is more about entertainment than education for the children whose parents are hard-pressed to keep the enthralled kids away from the lure of wild animals in captivity. The Globe’s Joan Vennochi offers a defense of the parents in the Cincinnati incident, talking about the two times she lost her children at the zoo and at the aquarium.

What happened in Cincinnati brought back memories for people in Boston when a gorilla named Little Joe escaped his cage at Franklin Park Zoo in 2003, injuring a young girl and her babysitter, before leading police and animal control officials on a chase around the neighborhood. Joe was captured and returned to the zoo, where changes were made to make the cages more secure.

The question of taming the wild is becoming louder and louder. The Buttonwood Zoo in New Bedford is under attack for its treatment of elephants at the facility, landing a spot on the list of 10 worst zoos in the country. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is no longer using elephants in its shows. Weymouth Mayor Robert Hedlund, when he was in the Senate, offered numerous bills to force changes in the treatment of show animals, some of which were adopted and all of which got the attention of zoos and circuses.

In the wake of the Cincinnati incident, zookeepers and their supporters will do some intense reassessment of their needs and goals. If you’re going to try to maintain a savanna in an urban area, it’s going to take money. But the question becomes where does that money come from?

In the meantime, zoos will look over their facilities to ensure all safety measures are in place and there’s little margin for error. Otherwise, they could themselves become endangered species.

“When you go to the zoo, you’re supposed to have a good time, see all the animals that your kids have never seen before,” says 15-year-old Nia Scott of Boston, who was the child injured by Little Joe at Franklin Park. “But if stuff like this is going to happen, then nobody’s going to want to go to the zoo anymore.”

–JACK SULLIVAN

 

BEACON HILL

Former attorney general Scott Harshbarger, who was the Democratic nominee for governor in 1998,  says he is joining the United Independent Party to help it reach official party status and promote political competition. (CommonWealth)

Gov. Charlie Baker quietly signs a hospital pricing compromise into law to avoid a ballot question fight. (Masslive)

The Baker administration is saying little for now on how it will comply with a recent Supreme Judicial Court decision mandating hard reductions in the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. (CommonWealth)

Baker finally confirmed what he has been hinting at for weeks: He will sign a transgender rights bill. (Baker cited the House version of pending legislation as the one he’d back.) (Boston Globe)

Lottery profits are up slightly through the first 10 months of the fiscal year. (State House News)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

The number of homeless families living in Danvers hotels is way down. (Salem News) Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera wants to hire a homeless coordinator. (Eagle-Tribune)

North Shore cities and towns sign community compact agreements with the state. (Salem News)

More on Boston City Hall’s interest in union hiring. (WGBH)

An ambulance driver in Plymouth is facing charges after police say he drove through a red light while responding to a call and triggered a multi-car crash and rollover that caused five injuries. (Patriot Ledger)

CASINOS

Shirley Leung says we could be at the beginning of the end of Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone’s battle against the Wynn Resorts casino in neighboring Everett. (Boston Globe) Curtatone tells the Herald he’s ready to put his best arguments forward at a crucial state hearing tomorrow.

The Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe is still set on opening a casino on Martha’s Vineyard, filing an appeal in federal court to overturn a lower court ruling that a 1987 agreement with the state bars them from entering the gaming field. (Cape Cod Times)

ELECTIONS

Hispanic Republican voters are not likely to embrace Donald Trump who has repeatedly offered racist rants against Mexicans. (Boston Globe)

Former workers for Trump University say it was a “lie” and a “scheme,” according to recently released testimony. (New York Times)

The Globe editorial page says the Libertarian Party ticket, on which Bill Weld will appear in the VP slot, is offering a “credible” alternative to “Trump’s GOP.” A Herald editorial says much the same, saying the ticket is a “welcome addition to what has long been a three-ring circus of a political year.”

None of this sits too well with Joe Fitzgerald, who argues that Charlie Baker and Bill Weld are both taking the “position of a coward” by not voting for one of the two candidates who will become president and decide things like the makeup of the Supreme Court. (Boston Herald)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Staples CEO Ronald Sargent will step down after failing to engineer the company’s takeover of rival Office Depot. (Boston Globe)

The Lowell City Council taps WinnCompanies as the master developer of the Hamilton Canal District. (The Sun)

A Whitman dog groomer has received death threats and been called a murderer after a pet owner’s post about her dog dying at the groomer’s because of unsafe temperatures went viral. The owner, however, played a surveillance video for The Enterprise that appears to show the dog was in an air conditioned room with other dogs.

EDUCATION

UMass President Marty Meehan foresees a “reasonable” hike in tuition and fees for the upcoming school year. (State House News Service)

More than 20 percent of federal Title I funds intended to level the playing field for low-income school districts has been granted to affluent districts with high-performing schools and small percentages of poor families. (U.S. News & World Report)

Andover High School’s gender neutral junior prom elects two prom kings. (Salem News)

The fight over the Lowell Community Charter Public School raises issues about the boards that govern charter schools. (The Sun)

Harvard University plans a $1.6 million expansion at the Holyoke computing center. (Masslive)

John  Zurick says Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s proposal for free tuition at community colleges carries more symbolic than financial value. (CommonWealth)

Bilal Lafta, who was in an Iraqi refugee camp 11 years ago, is graduating as the valedictorian of his class at Boston Community Leadership Academy in Hyde Park. (Boston Herald)

The Philadelphia School District is adding two Muslim holidays to its school calendar. (Governing)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

Jim Stergios says it is long overdue for Boston to approve its first for-profit, walk-in clinic. (Boston Globe)

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

Two energy developers say offshore wind and hydroelectricity will deliver clean energy and savings. (Eagle-Tribune)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

A former Boston Bruins player who is the lead plaintiff in a class action suit against the NHL over the long-term effects of concussions has been arrested and charged with assaulting a woman he had never met in a bizarre incident in Centerville. (Cape Cod Times)

A Jamaican woman living in Fall River has been accused of stealing her sister’s identity to illegally enter the country and fraudulently collecting more than $100,000 in Social Security benefits. (Herald News)

MEDIA

Pulitzer Prize data reveal a race and gender gap. (Columbia Journalism Review)

Jeff Bezos, riding high, defends his decision to buy the Washington Post. (New York Times)

Vanity Fair takes a deep dive into the New York Times, and warns that as many as 200 layoffs are coming.