Frightening moment gorilla charges at Texas zookeepers trapped inside enclosure in front of scared crowd
He wasn’t monkeying around.
A newly released video captured the frightening moment an adult gorilla charged at two defenseless zookeepers who were inside the enclosure in front of distressed onlookers
Elmo, the Fort Worth Zoo’s 34-year-old male silverback gorilla, stormed out of a cave-like cutout into the view of the public as one of the employees narrowly avoided and fled to a nearby door, according to the video posted to TikTok.
“In it, you’ll see the first keeper throwing a bucket and then running inside,” former zoo security officer Ben White, who captured the video, told WFAA. “She’ll keep the door open for a little bit, kind of cracks, so you’ll also see her on our radio, radioing us, radioing other keepers,” White said.
The zookeeper, now positioned in a doorway has a stare down with Elmo as the other employee stands just feet away from the primate.
Following the standoff, Elmo turned his attention to the second employee but was distracted and charged at a man behind a nearby window.
The zookeeper repositioned herself to have a barrier between her and the gorilla so she could drop the bucket in her hand as Elmo curiously looked around the exhibit.
“You see Elmo run around and you see the second zookeeper. She tries to distract him, hides behind a tree, plays like a really fun game of hide and seek,” White said.
Elmo is seemingly distracted a second time and runs off camera, allowing the separated zookeeper to flee to safety.
“At the end of the video you see the gorilla actually with the bucket, like, hey, you forgot the bucket.”
The shocking video, which has been viewed over 42.5 million times, was captured nearly five months ago.
“So it was taken on October 20th,” White told the outlet. “I was the first responding officer.”
White says the video of the scary event had recently resurfaced on his phone.
“I was actually just going through my camera roll and saw that I had it,” he said. “There was no ulterior motive, I just posted it because I thought it was cool.”
Scared witnesses can be heard pleading and praying for both of the employees’ safety throughout the entire 2-minute-long video.
Nobody was hurt during the incident.
“We made sure that the animal was secured and then the keepers were OK,” White added.
The Fort Worth Zoo said the zookeepers entered the enclosure unaware Elmo was still inside.
“On Oct. 20, 2023, an incident led to two of our zookeepers sharing space with our 34-year-old silverback gorilla,” the Fort Worth Zoo confirmed to WFAA in a statement. “Thankfully, there was no physical contact between keepers and gorilla; and all staff and animals are safe.”
“Every day, the zookeepers shift the gorilla troop into their indoor habitat so that keepers can place the animals’ lunch in their outdoor habitat. Due to keeper error, staff entered the yard unaware that the silverback was still in its habitat.”
“The zookeepers work with and train these animals every day and thanks to their knowledge and expertise, they navigated the situation calmly and were able to exit the yard safely. Understandably, the sharing of this video has been emotional for all keepers involved.”
The Fort Worth Zoo is the zoo where a baby gorilla was born following an emergency C-section earlier this year.
Baby Jameela was born between four to five weeks early Jan. 5 via an “emergency cesarean,” the first the zoo had ever conducted, staff announced in a Valentine’s Day statement.
Mama Sekani was expected to deliver her fourth baby in mid-February, plans that quickly changed when she was seen sulking around her enclosure and holding her head in her hands in the days leading up to the crisis operation.
