Death of a Baboon

Death of a Baboon is a HTFF episode.

Starring

 * Pop
 * Cub

Featuring

 * Bongo
 * Lumpy
 * Doppler

Appearances

 * Nurse and Cast
 * Cro-Marmot
 * Stone
 * Pia
 * Scoopy
 * Capture

Plot
Pop and Cub visit the zoo one day. Pop spies a baboon in a cage and intends to take a photo of Cub with the animal. He tells Cub to march toward the cage. Cub does just that. But he tells him to get closer. This repeats until Cub is within arms reach of the baboon. Pop snaps the photo, but unfortunately the camera flash ends up driving the baboon insane and it starts attacking Cub, much to Pop's horror. Looking for help, he comes across a zookeeper, who happens to be Lumpy. Witnessing Cub's ordeal, Lumpy fires a gun at the baboon, killing it.

That night, Pop visits a heavily-bruised Cub at a hospital. He decides to make his son feel better by turning on the TV. The news comes on and Doppler reports about the incident at the zoo. This makes Cub cry until Pop settles him down with a spoonful of soup. Then the news story spirals into blaming Pop for the incident due to his irresponsible parenting. This shocks Pop into spilling the hot soup onto Cub's body. Nurse and Cast, who were in the same room, both make angry glares at Pop.

Pop drives home but under low profile because of the notoriety he has received. He passes by Bongo, who is among several people mourning the death of the baboon. Pop makes it home but as he exits his car, a bunch of objects are thrown at him by an angry mob.

Weeks pass and Pop seems to have become a recluse. Upon visiting the internet, he finds hundreds of memes dedicated to the slain baboon. All the while the outrage continues to spread. Doppler interviews Lumpy on television, who claims that it was Pop's fault. Having had enough, Pop races to the scene and interferes with the interview, claiming that the zoo should have had proper barriers, pointing to all the other animals in relatively unfit enclosures.

As Pop and Lumpy squabble, Bongo barges into the scene, and Doppler flees. Bongo attacks Pop and Lumpy before throwing the latter next to a caged tiger, which is able to reach out and claw him. Pop stops Bongo, saying that he has a way to resolve the problem and clear his name.

A fully-recovered Cub marches out of the hospital with Pop. Suddenly, Bongo leaps out of the bushes and scares Cub. Pop tackles the primate to save his son, who is unaware that the two are faking the act. Capture shows up to snap a photo of the event. The flash triggers Bongo's savage side and leads him to maul Pop. Then, in a surprising turn of events, Cub sprays mace in Bongo's eyes. The blinded baboon stumbles onto the road and is hit by Doppler's news van.

Pop lays injured in a hospital bed as Cub shows him the news. Doppler reports that Cub is hailed a hero for saving his father. Also in a tragic twist of irony, Doppler is now given backlash for killing Bongo, and objects are thrown at him while on set. Pia takes over as the news station with a story about the newly-renovated zoo enclosures. During an interview, Lumpy states that the zoo is a safer place, but when he comes across a hole in the rhino pen he simply covers it up with a poster. The rhino pokes its horn through and impales Lumpy in the chest.

Deaths

 * 1) The baboon is shot by Lumpy.


 * 1) Bongo is ran over by Doppler.


 * 1) Lumpy is impaled through the chest by a rhinoceros.

Injuries

 * 1) Cub is attacked by the baboon.
 * 2) Lumpy clawed by a tiger.
 * 3) Pop is attacked by Bongo.

Trivia

 * This episode, much like Zoo's To Blame?, is a reference to the death of Harambe the gorilla after a small child fell into his enclosure, both the zoo and the parents receiving blame.
 * Several references to the canon episode From A to Zoo are shown. Most notably the baboon, which attacks Cub in a similar manner it attacked Sniffles. The rhino also counts, especially in the fact that it kills Lumpy the way it killed Toothy.
 * Bongo aside, other protestors included Cro-Marmot, Stone, Scoopy and Pia.