Baby Gorilla Crushed To Death In Freak Zoo Accident
- 10 years ago
The youngest gorilla living at the San Francisco Zoo has died after being raised by zoo keepers for over 15 months.
The youngest gorilla living at the San Francisco Zoo has died.
While the gorillas were being moved from their caged enclosures to the separate indoor nighttime quarters, the baby 15-month-old female quickly moved underneath the hydraulic door.
She was crushed before zookeepers had a chance to stop the door, or rescue the baby Western lowland species of gorilla named Kabibe, which means “little lady” in Swahili.
San Francisco Zoo employees are reportedly investigating how to make the procedure safer for the animals that live at the zoo.
Tanya Peterson, the zoo’s executive director is quoted as saying: “Some animal deaths are more difficult to process than others, and this tragedy has struck us all in the deepest way imaginable.”
There have been incidents involving hydraulic doors killing animals at other zoos as well and some animal rights activists are drawing attention to the problem.
Western lowland gorillas are an endangered species native to Central Africa, with about 750 living in captivity, and around a hundred thousand left in the wild.
The youngest gorilla living at the San Francisco Zoo has died.
While the gorillas were being moved from their caged enclosures to the separate indoor nighttime quarters, the baby 15-month-old female quickly moved underneath the hydraulic door.
She was crushed before zookeepers had a chance to stop the door, or rescue the baby Western lowland species of gorilla named Kabibe, which means “little lady” in Swahili.
San Francisco Zoo employees are reportedly investigating how to make the procedure safer for the animals that live at the zoo.
Tanya Peterson, the zoo’s executive director is quoted as saying: “Some animal deaths are more difficult to process than others, and this tragedy has struck us all in the deepest way imaginable.”
There have been incidents involving hydraulic doors killing animals at other zoos as well and some animal rights activists are drawing attention to the problem.
Western lowland gorillas are an endangered species native to Central Africa, with about 750 living in captivity, and around a hundred thousand left in the wild.