How the Media Played the Death of Hercules

As you may have heard, Hercules, a 43-year-old gorilla, died Wednesday from a heart attack, after undergoing a procedure to help relieve pain caused by degenerative spinal disease. The Dallas Morning News responded with a nice tribute, while also summing up the events of his death and touching on the details of his 1998 attack on zoo keeper Jennifer McClurg (and, of course, the death of Jabari). Solid work. The Associated Press, on the other hand, went with this headline: “Hercules, gorilla that once attacked handler, dies.” That fact is brought up again in the lede, and kicks off the second half of the obit. (The Houston Chronicle used the same AP piece, but handled it more elegantly.) You know what, it’s probably not even a big deal and I’m just being sensitive because I was a big fan of Hercules and the other gorillas at the Zoo. In any case, cue this.