Calgary Zoo suspends keeper after gorilla nearly escapes

CALGARY - Zoo management suspended an experienced keeper Monday after a gorilla nearly escaped from its pen when it leaped from a pile of ice in his yard, pulled himself onto a glass fence and sat perched on the ledge.

Officials say the incident happened about 8 a.m. The zoo hadn’t yet opened so there was no danger to the public.

The seven-year-old male named Shana jumped back into his pen when he was noticed.

“A staff member spotted him and I think the gorilla was more startled than the staff member,” said Cathy Gaviller, director of conservation and research.

“He immediately leapt back into his enclosure and the whole thing was over before it began.”

Gaviller said it’s unlikely the “mischievous” gorilla, who arrived from the Bronx Zoo last spring, would have strayed very far from home.

“Gorillas are very shy,” she said. “Their habitats are their homes, that’s where they are comfortable, so they are actually quite reluctant to leave.”

Still, the incident has been reported to a review team that is reviewing practises and operations at the Calgary Zoo after management requested the outside probe last year following a string of incidents and animal deaths.

A spokesman for the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums said it’s likely the latest incident will be incorporated into the review, which also has the participation of the U.S. branch.

“The review team is still doing its work but they have the ability to look at anything and everything,” said Steve Feldman. “If the purpose of the review is to achieve improvement in the programs and this incident indicates a need for change, that’s how it would fit into the review.”

Both Feldman and Gaviller called the near-escape by a gorilla a rare incident.

Meanwhile, zoo officials wouldn’t say for how long the employee has been suspended and whether or not the worker will be paid.

But Gaviller said it’s a “standard, every-day procedure” to check all the animals’ enclosures thoroughly for hazards.

The ice that the gorilla used to reach the ledge has been removed, she added.

Monday’s incident comes three weeks after two snakes went missing at the zoo for almost 24 hours after a keeper left a drain cover off and they vanished into the pipes.

The snakes escaped just days after the review team wrapped up.

DTETLEY@THEHERALD.CANWEST.COM