The silver backed gorrillas should be exterminated.

I hope the challenge is something of a jest and my opponent does not really believe "silver backed gorillas" should be exterminated. Just in case, however, I will do my best to convince him as well as simply presenting counter-arguments. I look forward to an interesting debate. On to round one. .. CLARIFICATION My opponent has made his first misstep, I believe, by referring to "silver backed gorillas". In reality, all adult male gorillas are referred to as "silverbacks". I think if we are going to talk about destruction of life it's important to be educated on the subject. However, I doubt my opponent meant only adult male gorillas, so I will argue either way until he clarifies next round. Brutish: Brutal, cruel. Filthy: Foul with dirt and refuse. BURDEN OF PROOF My opponent must meet the burden of proof, as he has both instigated the debate and is Pro. Specifically he must prove that: 1. Adult male gorillas are generally filthy. 2. Adult male gorillas are generally brutish. 3. Being filthy and brutish warrants extermination. 4. Tens of thousands of dollars are being spent protecting them every year. 5. A significant enough amount of the money being spent protecting them comes from public, not private funds. 6. The benefits of spending money to exterminate them exist and outweigh the benefits of keeping them alive (which I shall present). And while this is not a matter of burden of proof, I feel my opponent needs to make a good case for why only non-human animals should be exterminated for brutishness and filthiness. MY ARGUMENT I'll keep my arguments fairly simple for now, until my opponent provides proof of his claims. A. When explorers first discovered the gorillas of Africa, they were convinced they'd found a lost tribe of humans. Gorillas are among humanity's closest relatives, the differences being minute. We are both apes, a member of the Hominoid family, alongside chimpanzees and gibbons. We share the earth's brightest minds, and if there is anything in the universe non-human which we could ever consider like-minded, it is not across the galaxy but in our own backyard. It is this which leads to my second point. .. . http://www.youtube.com... B. Gorillas are intelligent, capable of complex language and likely capable of humanlike emotion. Koko is a well-known and probably the most studied gorilla. She knows 1,000 signs and understands 2,000 words of spoken English. When her pet kitten died, she asked what had happened, expressed sadness, and relayed memories of the kitten. She also asked for a mate and to be able to have a child. She has an IQ of 75-90 compared to a normal human IQ of 100. I've scattered a few videos about to show what words can't really express for points A and B. . http://www.youtube.com... . http://www.youtube.com... C. Gorillas, as our close relatives, have much to teach us about animals, humans and human evolution. Primatologists, linguists, psychologists and anthropologists study gorillas and chimpanzees not just to learn about the animals themselves but to apply that knowledge to other animals, humans especially. D. There is no reason to believe that gorillas are brutal or cruel, quite the opposite and especially not when compared to humans, who are known to torture, kill and rape even the most helpless members of their own species. Gorillas are known to be generally very gentle, the only time "brutish" can be applied to them is when one group takes over another, infanticide sometimes occurs. However, I shall note that this is common in every corner of the animal kingdom, including the human race, and humans do not keep to just the occasional infanticide. So to consider gorillas brutish when they commit violence only sometimes and only in one way and only out of necessity, when our own standards are far, far, far lower, simply does not follow. SOURCES Not being too much of a stickler in this round as it's pretty commonly known information. . http://en.wikipedia.org... . http://dictionary.com... . http://www.koko.org... . http://www.time.com...