The silverback gorilla whose escape sent ZSL London Zoo into lockdown made an “opportunistic” exit through two unlocked doors into a corridor where a keeper was working, the zoo said. Professor David Field, the ZSL’s zoological director, said Kumbuka was kept calm by the member of staff, with whom he had a “close bond”. The incursion into the zookeeper area culminated in Kumbuka glugging five litres of undiluted blackcurrant squash, before being tranquillised and moved back to safety, an in-house investigation into the incident said. Despite the animal’s security breach, Professor Field said the whole affair was “less dramatic than some would have you believe”. “Staff raised the alarm that triggered our standard escape response, while Kumbuka briefly explored the zookeeper area next door to his den, where he opened and drank five litres of undiluted blackcurrant squash.

Source: The Guardian October 20, 2016 01:27 UTC