DALLAS (AP) -- Dallas Zoo officials said they can't explain how a 300-pound gorilla escaped from its enclosure, injuring four people before it was shot to death.
Police evacuated an estimated 300 people from the zoo compound Thurday and killed Jabari, a 13-year-old western lowland gorilla, after it charged at officers.
Zoo workers armed with tranquilizer guns had pursued the animal through the forested jungles of the Wilds of Africa exhibit, but could not gain a clear shot, officials said.
"It tried to charge two of our officers, so we had to shoot it," Deputy Police Chief Daniel Garcia said. "You can imagine the pandemonium we had out here when he got loose. We felt terrible we had to put this animal down."
The injured included a mother and her toddler son. Rivers Noah, 3, was in fair condition at Children's Medical Center with multiple bites to his head and chest. His mother, Keisha Heard, 26, who was bitten on the legs, was in good condition at Parkland Memorial Hospital.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2004/03/19/388320-ap.html
Police evacuated an estimated 300 people from the zoo compound Thurday and killed Jabari, a 13-year-old western lowland gorilla, after it charged at officers.
Zoo workers armed with tranquilizer guns had pursued the animal through the forested jungles of the Wilds of Africa exhibit, but could not gain a clear shot, officials said.
"It tried to charge two of our officers, so we had to shoot it," Deputy Police Chief Daniel Garcia said. "You can imagine the pandemonium we had out here when he got loose. We felt terrible we had to put this animal down."
The injured included a mother and her toddler son. Rivers Noah, 3, was in fair condition at Children's Medical Center with multiple bites to his head and chest. His mother, Keisha Heard, 26, who was bitten on the legs, was in good condition at Parkland Memorial Hospital.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2004/03/19/388320-ap.html
