U.K. enthralled by gorilla’s zoo escape, drinking binge
Silverback on the lam in London uses his 90 minutes of freedom to gorge on blackcurrant juice
When Kumbuka, a male silverback gorilla, escaped from the ZSL London Zoo on Oct. 13, panic ensued.
Visitors were locked down in a cafeteria and heavily armed police officers were called in to track down the wild animal, who was eventually tranquilized by zookeepers.
Turns out, all Kumbuka wanted was some juice.
David Field, ZSL’s zoological director, revealed the details of exactly what happened during Kumbuka’s 90-minute escape in a blog post on Wednesday.
Field’s investigation found that the door to Kumbuka’s den had not been properly secured and a secondary security door hadn’t been locked.
“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,” Field said.
The gorilla was contained in a non-public area by zookeepers responding to the alarm, where he was tranquilized and returned to his den.
Phyllis Lee, a primatologist at the University of Stirling in the United Kingdom, told the BBC that such an epic helping of concentrated blackcurrant squash could have caused severe stomach pains and diarrhea.
“Five litres is quite a lot for a gorilla to consume in one go but given a gorilla’s manual dexterity, I would assume that some would have been spilled,” she said.
“He must have found it and taken his opportunity, similar to how a 4-year-old child would.”
However, unlike a child, Kumbuka didn’t appear to experience a sugar high after his blackcurrant binge.
“Within two hours Kumbuka was back with his family, snacking on treats and probably wondering what all the fuss was about,” Field wrote.
The story of Kumbuka’s escape fascinated media in the United Kingdom. People had reported the gorilla was agitated, charging at the glass in his enclosure, but Field wrote the escape was “less dramatic than some would have you believe.”
“I can certainly tell you that there were no broken locks, Kumbuka did not smash any windows, he was never ‘on the loose’ and his normal gorilla posturing reported by visitors earlier in the day was unrelated to the incident,” he said.
“Today, Kumbuka and his family are happily playing, eating and sleeping in Gorilla Kingdom.”