In 1996, a similar event happened to this weekend when a 3-year-old fell into a Gorilla exhibit in a zoo near Chicago. But that one turned out very different, at least for the Gorilla:
CBS NEWS – While Saturday’s incident ended in tragedy, there was a much different outcome 20 years ago when a 3-year-old boy fell into the gorilla den at Brookfield Zoo near Chicago.
As CBS Chicago reported, it happened on Aug. 16, 1996, in the days before everyone had a cell phone that could capture video. Yet someone did record the moments after the child got away from his mother and fell into the ape pit.
A zoo visitor captured an image of the 3-year-old’s lifeless body lying on the exhibit floor, but it’s what happened next that captured hearts.
A female gorilla named Binti Jua, with her own baby on her back, picked up the child and carried him to safety. Workers who were there said it’s an image they will never forget.
Binti Jua, an 8-year-old female gorilla, carries an injured three-year-old boy to a service gate after the child fell 18 feet to a concrete floor in the primate exhibit at the Brookfield Zoo, Friday, Aug. 16, 1996, in Brookfield, Ill. The gorilla is generally credited with the boy’s rescue after she shielded him from other gorilla’s in the exhibit and carried him to a service door where zoo keepers and paramedics could attend to his injuries. The boy’s condition was listed as serious Saturday at a local hospital.(AP Photo/WLS-TV)
“She was somewhat protective, too. Part of the video, she takes the child and sort of turns a shoulder to the other gorillas,” zoo worker Jay Peterson said.
“She carried him up around this part of the exhibit, through the river, made a right turn … went over to that log,” zoo worker Craig Demitros said. “She was gently kind of rocking the kid in her right arm.”
After being rushed to the hospital, the child made a full recovery. The story and images were carried around the world, making Binti Jua an international sensation, and a hometown hero to many.
Zookeepers said Binti Jua was raised by humans, so she was more “people-oriented,” and that could have played a role in her gentle handling of the child.
They also said it was fortunate that the child was unconscious because had he been moving or crying he might have been perceived as a threat.
These were very different circumstances to what happened this weekend. As tragic and unfortunate as it was for the gorilla this weekend, zookeepers did the right thing in order to save the child.
Had the gorilla this weekend been raised by humans and the child been unconscious, it may have been a very different outcome as well.
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