2023 video of Fort Worth zookeepers trapped in gorilla enclosure goes viral on TikTok

Nicole Lopez
·2 min read
21
A video of zookeepers trapped with a silverback gorilla, Elmo, at the Fort Worth Zoo’s gorilla enclosure went viral this week, but the incident was from Oct. 20, 2023, according to zoo officials.

A video of two zookeepers trapped in the gorilla enclosure at the Fort Worth Zoo went viral on social media on Thursday, but zoo officials say the incident happened in October 2023.

A video posted on TikTok shows a male gorilla sprinting across the ground to follow a zookeeper, who runs and hides behind a door in the enclosure.

Seconds later, the video also shows another zookeeper who appears to be carrying a container of food stop and hold still while observing the gorilla’s movements. As the gorilla then runs in the other direction, the zookeeper runs to the door of the enclosure where the first zookeeper fled.

Terrified zoo visitors watching from outside the enclosure can be heard praying for the zookeepers’ safety.

The video gained almost 34 million views as of Friday.

The incident happened on Oct. 20, 2023, according to the zoo’s director of marketing and public relations, Avery Elander.

There were was no physical contact between the gorilla and the keepers, and all the animals and staff —including the silverback gorilla, 34-year-old Elmo — were safe.

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The incident was a result of “keeper error,” Elander told the Star-Telegram.

Zookeepers temporarily move the gorillas into an indoor habitat so that they can place the animals’ lunches in their outdoor habitat, but on this day they entered the yard unaware that the gorilla was still in his habitat, according to Elander.

“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,” Elander said.

Elmo is the father of Jameela, a baby gorilla recently born at the Fort Worth Zoo in a rare C-section. Jameela’s birth mother suffered from preeclampsia and didn’t seem interested in caring for the infant.

This week, zoo officials said they’re restarting efforts to train another member of the troop to act as Jameela’s surrogate mother after surrogacy training with one female gorilla stalled.