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Thursday, October 13, 2016

IMPRISONED GORILLA "KUMBUKA" SMASHES LONDON ZOO GLASS AND ESCAPES CAPTIVITY - Panic ensues - But he was later recaptured and returned to his enclosure - Everyone safe.

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Armed keepers chase Gorilla who has escaped from London Zoo 
'The  gorilla was agitated and we were told NOT to stare it in the eye - then he escaped': London Zoo visitors describe how 7ft-tall 29st Silverback Kumbuka smashed his glass by hurling himself through
 
Continue reading and see more images of Kumbuka's escape

A gorilla escaped from its enclosure in London Zoo today and was chased for more than 90 minutes by armed keepers and the Metropolitan Police.
 
Eyewitnesses told MailOnline that they were warned not to look Kumbuka in the eye as it agitates him - minutes before he smashed his way out of his enclosure. 
One eyewitness, Oliver Barker, 24, said a zoo keeper warned visitors against 'staring' at one of the male gorillas, believed to be Kumbuka, pictured, as this would 'aggravate him'


Visitors to the zoo were in lockdown in various sites across the site, including a butterfly enclosure and a cafe as armed keepers scoured the grounds hunting the missing gorilla.

The Metropolitan Police joined in the hunt with the Air Support Unit providing air cover and using its heat-seeking camera to find the animal.
 
One member of the public claimed the animal, thought to be a male silverback, 'threw himself at the window' in the enclosure before escaping. 
 
The Met confirmed they got the first call from the Zoo at 5.17pm.  The animal was recaptured shortly before 6.30pm.

THE MOMENT KUMBUKA SMASHES GLASS AND SETS HIMSELF FREE:
 
The zoo was on lockdown after the massive gorilla burst out of his enclosure earlier today

London Zoo tonight refused to confirm whether Kumbuka, pictured, was the gorilla involved

Armed zoo keepers hunt the gorilla as members of the public are locked inside the cafe where this picture was taken


Oliver Barker, 24, who was at the zoo for a marketing conference, told the Mail Online that the gorilla had seemed ‘agitated’ earlier in the day, and keepers had warned visitors not to stare at him.

He said the animal looked ‘intimidating’ – and a colleague told him the gorilla had charged at the glass shortly before the escape.  He said: ‘He looked like he was in a sort of trance, he definitely wasn't relaxed at all".  He looked very intimidating. The zookeeper came over and said, “don’t aggravate him by staring at him”.

A spokeswoman for London Zoo today confirmed they 'managed an incident on site' 
 


She could tell he was very agitated, and lo and behold soon after we were told he had escaped.’

Mr Barker said a colleague went into the enclosure soon after he had been in there, and saw the animal charging.
 
He said: ‘He said he charged at the glass but the glass didn’t even wobble.
 
‘Five minutes after that we were told to get into the nearest safe room.’ 

Mr Barker posted a photograph of Kumbuka shortly before this afternoon's dramatic escape

 
Eyewitness Brad Evans, who has been allowed to leave the zoo, told BBC Radio London: 'We were in the zoo for the day, having a cup of coffee in the main restaurant area when they locked us all in and said there was an incident.
 
'They gave us free teas and coffees and obviously we were asking what was going on and they told us that a gorilla had got out of its enclosure and that we weren't allowed out of the park at half-five so we had to wait.
 
'As we were waiting we saw the police turning up in numbers with loads of guns.'  
Hannah O'Donoghue-Hobbs and her friend Charlotte travelled from Manchester for a conference and were locked in during the incident. They videoed their experience and posted it online
 
She said she saw about 30 armed officers.  
 
Police launched a major security alert after the gorilla escaped from its enclosure earlier today
 
The 24-year-old told MailOnline: ‘Everyone was all over the zoo, we were told to get into the nearest building.
 
‘The staff were saying there was a zoo emergency, they didn’t give us any information but I heard through the staff walkie-talkie that it was a gorilla.
 
‘I didn’t believe it at first, but then we saw more and more police, there were around 30 armed police, I hadn’t seen police like that before.
 
‘We saw the police coming in with big guns, and there were people from the zoo with guns.’

Armed police patrolled the zoo for 90 minutes while they attempted to recapture the ape


Members of the public were ordered to retreat to safety and were in lockdown in sites across the zoo.
 
The gorilla was recaptured after more than 90 minutes on the run. 
 
Scotland Yard said an incident involving an escaped gorilla at London Zoo has 'concluded', amid reports it has been shot with a tranquilliser dart and recaptured. 



The gorilla managed to escape from the Gorilla Kingdom enclosure which opened in 2007
 
According to the zoo's website there are at least seven gorillas living in its Gorilla Kingdom.
 
Among them is Kumbuka, a western lowland silverback, who arrived at ZSL London Zoo in early 2013 from Paignton Zoo in Devon.
 
Others include Zaire, who came to London Zoo in 1984 after being born in Jersey Zoo, Mjukuu and her daughter Alika, 'teenager' Effie, and Gernot, the latest addition who was born in November last year to Effie and Kumbuka.  
 
Staff warned visitors to leave the gorilla enclosure when Kumbuka started bashing the glass
 
When seven-foot-tall Kumbuka arrived at the zoo, in the hope he could boost the numbers of the critically endangered species in the European breeding programme, keeper Daniel Simmonds said: 'We’ve been slowly introducing him to our three females, and Mjukuu and Effie are already quite smitten with their handsome new roommate.
 
'He is proving to have quite a playful side to him; he loves to snap the branches on the smaller trees on their island and standing in the spray of the hosepipe when we clean his dens.'
 
In May a gorilla was shot dead by keepers after it grabbed a four-year-old boy who fell into a moat at a US zoo.
 
Harambe, a 17-year-old, 400-pound-plus male western lowland, was killed after he dragged the youngster around for 10 minutes after he fell 12 feet into the exhibit at Cincinnati Zoo.
 
Zoo officials made the decision because they felt the boy was in a "life-threatening situation".
 
The lowland gorilla is an endangered species.

London Zoo insist that all members of the public are currently safe despite the escaped gorilla


RELATED


A special zoo response team shot and killed a 17-year-old gorilla named Harambe to protect a four-year-old who fell in the enclosure. But new video footage shows the two briefly holding hands (pictured) 
Harambe was fatally shot after a four-year-old boy crawled past the railing and fell 15ft into the gorilla exhibit moat at the Cincinnati zoo.  But witnesses said the gorilla was 'acting protectively' and zoo director confirmed the boy was not under attack.  Video shows boy reaching for Harambe's arm, and they briefly held hands 

READ MORE ABOUT HAREMBE HERE: 
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/father-of-boy-who-fell-into-gorilla.html




His death has sparked an outrage, with many called it a 'murder' and 'senseless death' (pictured)

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