Harambe: Photo of famed gorilla to be sold as NFT on fifth anniversary of his death

Flowers lay around a bronze statue of a gorilla and her baby outside the Cincinnati Zoo’s Gorilla World exhibit days after Harambe the gorilla was shot dead after a boy fell into his enclosure, on 2 June 2016 in Cincinnati, Ohio

(John Sommers II/Getty Images)

A photo of Harambe, the famed gorilla whose death made headlines in 2016, is being sold as an NFT.

Harambe was shot dead in 2016 after a boy fell into his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio. The death made headlines around the world and Harambe became an online phenomenon.

Now, a photo of the gorilla, taken by his former official photographer Jeff McCurry, is being sold at auction as an NFT (non-fungible token), according to the BBC. NFTs are digital items which exist on a blockchain and can be bought and sold.

The image in question was taken on Harambe’s first day at the Cincinnati Zoo and has been shared online more than five billion times, the organisers of the sale told the BBC.

McCurry told the broadcaster he considered Harambe “a true friend”, and that he will “never find a better subject that means as much to me” as the gorilla.

At least two NFTs derived from online culture have been known to fetch six-figure prices.

An NFT of the “Disaster Girl” meme sold in April for approximately $500,000 (£353,445), while one of the viral “Charlie Bit My Finger” video recently sold for $761,000 (£537,829).

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