Bristol Zoo 'steps up' security at old site after repeated break-ins 'harm' gorillas

BristolWorld

Bristol Zoo has released a video of keepers outside the gorilla enclosure at its former site in Clifton to “raise awareness of the harm” of recent break-ins to the animals still living there

Transcript

00:00Hi I'm Imogen and I'm Gary and we are two of the primary keeper team here at Bristol Zoo Gardens.

00:08So we're currently prepping our gorilla troop to move over to our brand new African Forest

00:13Habitat at Bristol Zoo Project. Their new house is taking a really good shape at the moment

00:18so hopefully this summer we'll have them over there. Unfortunately due to false information

00:24circulating online we've actually had a few break-ins recently that we've been dealing with.

00:31So due to these break-ins we have stepped up security on site here at BZG and we have been

00:37able to prevent any trespassers getting anywhere near to our gorilla troop. So although it's good

00:42news that our step-up security has managed to keep the trespassers away from the gorillas it

00:49does mean that every time somebody comes onto the zoo grounds the alarms and sounders go off

00:56which are quite loud and that's actually really distressing to the gorillas. So in human terms

01:02it's like someone snooping around a family home outside. The residents of that house will be

01:07worried, they'll be scared, they don't know what's going on and even though our gorillas are big and

01:12scary things they still feel those emotions as well. Especially the young like the Sarnie and

01:20Junie and the elderly like Jock that we have in our group. So Jock is 41 years old now which for

01:26gorilla is classed as geriatric and he's actually the oldest silverback in the UK now so he is an

01:32old boy. So he needs his beauty sleep. Anything that's out of the ordinary or out of routine for

01:39him can be particularly stressful for Jock and we've had issues immediately after the break-in

01:46the next day doing basic husbandry routines because Jock in particular is so tired he just

01:53doesn't want to move. So we're asking people to share this video and spread the word kind of far

02:00and wide to help us prevent further break-ins at the ZG and further distress to our gorilla troop.

02:08And so we'd just like to thank you for all of your support also for watching and listening to

02:13this video and us and I'm sure the gorillas as well will be looking forward to seeing you all

02:19when their brand new habitat is open to the public.

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