Animal reportedly shot with tranquiliser dart after zoo said it was ‘managing an incident’

London zoo was placed under lockdown on Thursday after a gorilla escaped from its enclosure.

Armed police were called to the central London attraction and visitors were evacuated as keepers tried to recapture the animal.



But Malcolm Fitzpatrick, curator of mammals at the zoo, described the escape of Kumbuka as a “minor incident” in which the male gorilla got into a secure keeper area that was not open to the public.

Fitzpatrick said the western lowland had been tranquilised before being returned to the Gorilla Kingdom, where he was “up and grumbling and interacting with the rest of his gorilla family”.

He added: “It was a safe, secure keeper area, so at no time did he actually get out into the zoo.

“At no time were any of our visitors in any danger. The gorilla did not get out of the safe space, there were only about 100 visitors, it was the end of the day and I would like to thank all of those visitors for co-operating and moving in to buildings.”

Fitzpatrick said keepers would be staying on into the evening to check up on Kumbuka and giving him his “favourite treats”.

Dr. Jonathan T. Mall (@CognitiveTwo) #Gorilla on the loose? Huddling in a building at the #londonzoo after staff told us to get into a building quickly! pic.twitter.com/BBbFvBLTn6

The incident is now under investigation, he said. A zoo spokeswoman confirmed that the attraction’s own staff, equipped with tranquiliser guns, and armed police had been called to help control the 18-year-old gorilla.



Rob Hogan was at the zoo for a marketing conference and said he and other delegates went for a walk during a tea break shortly after 5pm.

“We went to the gorilla enclosure and were taking pictures with the flash turned off. The animals were playing and the big silverback was swinging on a rope.”

“I took the picture [below, of the silverback] and, one or two seconds after, he jumped and hit the glass, which shook the glass and the ground.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kumbuka the gorilla moments before the incident at London zoo. Photograph: Rob Hogan

“People were shocked but he was quite peaceful looking and we moved on. Then we heard an alarm. A member of the zoo staff went back to where we had come from. We were put in a reptile enclosure and told it was a drill. They said they do very realistic drills.



“But we heard the helicopter hovering and started to put two and two together and work out that it was not a drill. We were in there for about half an hour, then a ranger came back and said ‘it has been contained’.”

The zoo, which is in Regent’s park in central London, is one of the capital’s most popular tourist spots.

According to the zoo’s website there are at least seven gorillas living in its Gorilla Kingdom. Among them is Kumbuka, who arrived at London zoo in early 2013 from Paignton zoo in Devon.

Others include Zaire, who came to the zoo in 1984, having been born in Jersey zoo, Mjukuu and her daughter Alika, “teenager” Effie, and Gernot, the latest addition, who was born in November last year to Effie and Kumbuka.







