More than 290 different species to choose from, and not a single scapegoat to be found.

Having fired one veteran zoo keeper for failing to keep the gorillas contained earlier this year, the Calgary Zoo will be scrambling to lay blame for the latest great ape escape.

Just seven months after keeper Garth Irvine was bitten by roving primates in a staff kitchen, Calgary Zoo officials are now in the very awkward position of having to explain how it all happened again.

On Sunday, the same kitchen was the scene of another gorilla cell break, and though the zoo is vague on details, Sun sources say four of the huge hominids were found wandering the food preparation area.

“Late in the afternoon on Sunday, September 29th, some of our gorillas accessed a secondary containment area (the keeper kitchen) next to their enclosure in the TransAlta Rainforest building.

“No staff members or gorillas were injured in the incident,” reads the zoo’s official statement on the incident, released after the Sun broke the story.

It sounds almost comical, a troupe of gorillas hanging around a kitchen, possibly helping themselves to a few snacks.

But it was the zoo’s own reaction to the prior escape, culminating in the firing of Irvine, that makes this more than harmless monkey business — or more accurately, ape antics.

“There could have been terribly tragic consequences,” zoo curator Dr. Malu Celli said back in March.

“It is extremely fortunate that neither the gorillas nor any staff members were seriously injured during the incident.”

Irvine wore the last escape, for not latching a door properly and allowing the gorillas to enter the kitchen.

It was while trying to usher the three females back into their enclosure that the pack’s biggest gorilla, a 450-pound silverback named Kakinga, attacked the keeper, pinning him down, nipping him with his teeth, and then dragging him six feet before running away.

The injuries were minor, but the incident proved fatal to Irvine’s 25-year career as a zoo keeper — a dismissal accelerated by a mistake in 2009, in which he left a knife in the gorilla pen, and the 2010 escape of two giant hognose snakes, which temporarily slipped down a drain after Irvine left it uncovered.

The firing showed just how seriously the zoo took the first escape, which could have been far worse if inexperienced staff or a public visitor had been the first to encounter the wild escapees.

“It’s a very difficult decision for the team and we just have to put the safety of our animals, our staff and the public very seriously,” Celli said at the time.

Promises were made that every possible precaution would be made to ensure such an escape would never happen again — as well as booting the keeper off the island, the zoo said a full security review would take place.

So what happened?

With the ink barely dry on the last story, the Calgary Zoo is once again making bold promises about escaped apes, and the commitment to protecting staff and the public from harm.

“The Calgary Zoo takes these kinds of incidents very seriously and appropriate actions will be taken once our investigation is complete,” reads Tuesday’s statement.

“This incident is a reminder that there is no room for error or complacency when working with dangerous animals and we will continue to work with our staff team to reduce risk wherever possible.”

Perhaps they will find someone to fire for this escape too — but the real question is how such an obvious weak point in the security system still exists.

When an absent-minded keeper failing to latch a door can result in gorillas escaping, surely the real solution — rather than strong words and pink slips — is to fix the system so human error is no longer a factor, with redundancies to backstop the inevitable mistakes.

Gorillas escaping is pretty dramatic stuff, but the real surprise back in March should have been how easily it happened: One unlatched door and a 450-pound primate is sinking its teeth into a person.

With deadly animals like tigers, lions and hippos in the midst, this second gorilla escape is inexcusable — and it’s now the elephant in room for the Calgary Zoo.

michael.platt@sunmedia.ca