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Yesterday, March 7, began as a normal day at the Fort Worth Zoo. Guests took advantage of the mild March weather to walk around the sprawling Texas zoo and visit the thousands of exotic animals living there. But that afternoon at the zoo's World of Primates area, things would take a chilling turn.
While two female zookepers were working in the zoo's gorilla enclosure, a territorial male silverback gorilla named Elmo was accidentally let back into the enclosure early. The workers were instantly thrown into a life-or-death situation with the aggressive gorilla, and all that bystanders could do was watch and wait.
Forth Worth Zoo visitor @ben306069 filmed the entire, bloodchilling scene from just outside the enclosure. Elmo immediately charged at a fleeing zookeeper, who miraculously made it to the door of the enclosure. After an intense staredown, the zookeeper slowly started to close the door, but for some reason, didn't shut it all the way. When Ben panned his camera over, we saw why. The other zookeeper was still trapped in there, the gorilla blocking her path to the door.
Related: Amazing Hiking Trail Near Dallas, Texas Goes Through an Abandoned Zoo
As zoo visitors in the background prayed or moved away in anticipation of a violent encounter, the other zookeeper stood perfectly frozen. Luckily, a guest at the opposite window distracted Elmo long enough for the trapped worker to gain a little ground. After another intense staredown, Elmo inexplicably ran off in another direction, finally giving the terrified woman a chance to book it to the door and make it to safety. Both zookeepers got out of there alive and unharmed- but only by the skin of their teeth.
The footage was only released several hours ago, and so far the Fort Worth Zoo has not publicly commented on the situation, though Ben's eyewitness video has already gained over 12 million views. At the very least, we were able to observe that no deaths or injuries occurred here. Wherever the zookeepers are right now, I hope they're recovering mentally after enduring that dangerous animal encounter .
Nerve-Wracking Gorilla Encounters
When watching this video, I instantly thought of one name, a name that was referenced by dozens of others in the comments: Harambe. Back in 2016, Harambe was a gorilla who lived in the Gorilla World enclosure of the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden in Cincinnati, Ohio . Harambe was beloved by the zoo's patrons, and his life there was pretty uneventful- at least, until May 28, 2016.
That afternoon, Cincinnati.com reported that a 3-year-old boy crawled through a barrier and fell roughly 10-12 feet into the gorilla enclosure, where Harambe and two female gorillas were at the time. Harambe then began "violently dragging and throwing the child," said firefighters who responded to the emergency call. After 10 minutes, it became clear that there was no other option but to put Harambe down. The zoo's Dangerous Animal Response Team shot and killed Harambe, and the young boy was taken to the hospital and treated for, thankfully, non-life-threatening injuries.
The zoo's staff and patrons mourned the tragic, if necessary, killing of the rare gorilla, and Harambe became a huge internet meme, one that people still reference to this day. A lot of viewers immediately saw the parallels between the Harambe situation and the incident in Fort Worth yesterday. Luckily, Elmo did not go the way of the Harambe, and the situation was resolved peacefully- the best outcome anyone can hope for from a life-threatening animal encounter.
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