Escaped gorilla injures 3 visitors at Dallas Zoo

By David Flick
The Dallas Morning News

	IRWIN THOMPSON / AP Tracy Carter runs out of the Dallas Zoo with Marinda Goodner, left, and her son, Trey Carter, after a gorilla escaped from its enclosure and injured three people.
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DALLAS — Dallas Zoo officials yesterday said they were baffled by how a 13-year-old lowland gorilla escaped from an enclosure they had considered impenetrable, calling it a "one-in-a-million chance."

The 340-pound animal, on the loose for an hour, reportedly snatched up a toddler with his teeth and attacked three other people before officers shot it.

Authorities were left with two theories, both of which seemed highly unlikely, zoo officials and experts said.

One was that the ape somehow bounded over a barrier wall. The other was that the gorilla scaled a tree inside the enclosure and used it to cross over into public areas. Visitors told zoo officials that the incident was triggered when visitors taunted the animal.

"It's a complete mystery to us," zoo director Rich Buickerood said. "Whatever happened, it was freakish."

Officials also defended the reaction by employees and police. The zoo's emergency plan, which seeks first to protect the safety of visitors, is a national model and worked effectively Thursday, Buickerood said.

	Jabari

He also said the ape had to be stopped with bullets rather than tranquilizer darts when the animal charged at Dallas police officers. The officers were armed, but no one with tranquilizer guns had a clear shot at the animal at the moment of attack, Buickerood said.

The gorilla, named Jabari, escaped from his state-of-the-art, two-acre habitat sometime before 4:45 p.m. Thursday. He roamed along trails for about an hour.

Zoo officials said a boy lent a pocketknife to an adult visitor, who cut through mesh covering the aviary exhibit, allowing two victims — Keisha Heard, 26, and her 3-year-old son, Rivers — to escape.

"I was like, 'This is not happening, this is so unreal,' because he just came out of nowhere," Heard said yesterday on NBC's "Today" show. "He has my son in his mouth, he's attacking him, and I tried to help him and there wasn't really anything that I could do."

Heard, who was bitten on the leg, was treated at a local hospital and released. Rivers was still hospitalized yesterday with multiple bites to his head and chest.

Cheryl Reichert, of Mesquite, who was bitten on the arm, was treated and released.

The incident will be investigated by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, an arm of the Department of Agriculture. Zoo officials also have launched an investigation.

At a news conference, Buickerood extended his sympathy to the victims and his gratitude to local citizens for supporting the zoo.

Buickerood said yesterday's attendance had been unusually high.

"We were overwhelmed. This is a show of support," he said.

Heard's TV interview was reported by The Associated Press.

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