After the event at the Dallas Zoo last week I think we need to look how we handle emergencies. Last Thursday a gorilla at the Dallas Zoo was shot and kill after it escaped and wounded 4 people. Local police who responded to the ‘911’ call said they shot the animal after it charged them. Public reaction to this incident has been very vocal on both sides.
The gorilla a young male escaped to the front of the exhibit. By the time anyone knew what was happening he had attacked a woman and the children with her. The woman has amazing for thought and reacted very well. She kept still after the attack and waited for help. This may have saved both her life and the lives of the people around her. The reason is that when an animal escapes they are suddenly in a strange environment and go in to fight or flight reactions. If she had run or fought back it would have just scarred the animal more.
The fact that the escape happened to the public side rules out direct keeper error due to the fact all the doors into or out of an animal exhibit are located in the rear. If the gorilla had gotten out though a door it would be in the keeper area. The gorilla may have climbed over the wall since the glass wall was intact. Keep in mind that this exhibit has housed gorillas for over 10 years with out any gorilla even so much as trying to climb out.
The Dallas police who responded have no idea of what a gorilla is capable of. A 300 lb male gorilla can move faster hit harder then any human. Plus they have 5+ inch canine teeth. This is a big threat to stare down. Especially since most police departments get the same mount of training for Alien landings as large animal escapes.
It was said that a group of teenagers where teasing the gorilla earlier in the day and that this lead to the escape. This makes no scenes based on the fact that 1000’s of people come though the Zoo every day. Most of them tease the gorilla.
These factors lead to the result of what happened. The reaction of this will be grave for the Dallas Zoo. Even if it does not hurt attendance the Zoo’s image is hurt. In the Zoo world so much depends on what people think of you. City funding, attendance, support of donors, and a host of organizations that affect how successful a Zoo is reflect negatively to this kind of publicity.
I spent 7 years of my life working in Zoos and dealing with both large animals and safety. I started at a Zoo that is a drive though animal park. This type of Zoo deals with escapes on a basis of 3 to 5 a month. It is part of the nature of having a road though your exhibit. Part of that was in a city Zoo. That went though this same kind of incident. Based on that experience I suspect a number of things will happen.
The Zoo will under go a safety and security audit with the City looking over its shoulder. They will hire an OSHA expert to look at safety. Security procedures will be reviewed and a set of new rules will be drawn up. Both of these things will over look the main failures of the incident and focus on the experts with no experience in dealing with dangerous animals. The city will order the Zoo to submit safety reports on a regular basis.
None of this will really make the Zoo or the gorillas any safer. The fact is that gorillas are smart strong animal that will, given enough time, escape from anywhere. The point of failure should be identified and fixed. Once fixed the gorilla has all day to think his way out again. The odds are in our favor but the gorilla has imagination in his.
What can be done is for us to use our imagination. Zoos have little to no experience in dealing with escapes and even less resources. Originations such as the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) can pool experiences of zoo professional to learn from each other and share what works in an escape. There are people with great ideas that work. Here are my recommendations:
1. Radios for all keepers with training on good radio communication. The military knows how important radio communication is. Call them for help training your Zoo employees and listen to what they say.
2. Make a simple plan and practice it. The best responds to an escape is inform everyone, clear the area, and have a leader. It sound simplistic but I bet most of you with enough time and people could think of a way to deal with this event. Chances are the animal will get easier to deal with not harder if you back off and watch him. Get all you employees used to what to do.
3. Get the local emergency responds personnel familiar with you head keepers and vet staff. Once something happens it will be hard for the police or fire department personnel listen to someone they do not know. You need their help and they need you expertise. Once you have an emergency it is too late to build that relastionship.