You may find yourself giggling at the internet's odd, viral tributes to the late gorilla Harambe, but it's no laughing matter to workers at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Thane Maynard, the zoo's director, has asked people to stop making memes about Harambe, citing the effect on grieving staff.
"We are not amused by the memes, petitions and signs about Harambe," Maynard told the Associated Press.
"Our zoo family is still healing and the constant mention of Harambe makes moving forward more difficult for us."
Harambe - the 17-year-old male western lowland gorilla shot by Cincinnati zoo staff in May, in order to protect a three-year-old boy who climbed a barrier and fell into his enclosure - has become an internet icon in the months since his death.
The outpouring of grief and outrage that greeted the gorilla's death - which included everything from heartfelt memorials online to angry calls for the boy's parents to be charged with parental negligence - have, in social media's own inimitable way, since transformed into jokey, deadpan petitions and memes.
There was the petition to have the name of Cincinnati's local NFL team, the Bengals, renamed to the Cincinnati Harambes. He's been dragged into the US presidential campaign and edited into clips from the Fast & The Furious franchise. Other petitions have called for Harambe to be cloned by science and canonised by Pope Francis.
"At first, the petitioners had good intentions," Cincinnati journalist James Leggate, who started his own petition to stop the endless Harambe petitions, wrote. "But then the goofuses of the internet hopped on the Harambe train for their jollies, and it has gotten out of control."
he lived in @CincinnatiZoo, now he lives in our hearts #ripharambe pic.twitter.com/8jOLVja09L
— baberaham lincoln (@djlauralux) August 17, 2016
I replaced some of the pictures in my house to pictures of Harambe pic.twitter.com/g5HjHqm8Wy
— syd (@sydhayd) August 16, 2016
Harambe
— Luke O'Neil (@lukeoneil47) June 3, 2016
by The Cranberries pic.twitter.com/x5IoYHrK9L
Lost, but never forgotten #RIPHarambe pic.twitter.com/1wmhwkk08e
— Nato Kimball (@Nato_Kimball) August 13, 2016
This is by far the best one yet pic.twitter.com/oveTS3fZtu
— Because I'm a Guy (@CauseWereGuys) August 21, 2016
1 RT = 1 Prayer #JusticeForHarambe #RIPHarambe pic.twitter.com/cY4N8N1tVB
— R.I.P Harambe (@MillzIsGod) August 13, 2016
Life could be worse, you could be Cincinnati Zoo's social media manager. pic.twitter.com/OxrBXaEtqz
— Wefail (@wefail) August 19, 2016
It seems the final straw for Maynard came after his personal Twitter was hacked over the weekend and littered with Harambe media, including a confoundingly irreverent hashtag that's gone viral in recent months.
He said the zoo is now trying to re-direct attention from the memes towards gorilla conservation efforts and "encourages others to join us."