“God help her” — Two Zookeepers Trapped In Gorilla Cage at Fort Worth Zoo

Harambe 2.0?

Thankfully not.

But this was an extreme nail-biter.

Yahoo News has more details:

A video of two Texas zookeepers who unexpectedly found themselves enclosed in an exhibit with a gorilla has gone viral.

The video posted on TikTok Thursday shows the silverback gorilla named Elmo enter his display yard while two employees were still inside at the Fort Worth Zoo. The ape is seen following the shadow of one of the zookeepers.

Zoo visitors can be heard panicking and one of them prays for the employees’ safety. “Oh my gosh, God help her, God help her, God help her,” a woman says.

The employees move slowly, stay calm and wait for the right opportunity to safely exit.

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The video of the incident, which happened on Oct. 20, 2023, had more than 25 million views by Friday evening.

“Thankfully, there was no physical contact between keepers and gorilla, and all staff and animals are safe,” zoo spokesperson Avery Elander said in a statement Friday.

USA TODAY has reached out to the TikTok account owner. It’s unclear why the video was only recently posted.

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Zoo says incident was due to ‘keeper error’

Elander said that zookeepers entered the yard unaware the gorilla was still in the habitat due to “keeper error.”

Here is the TikTok video:

https://www.tiktok.com/@ben306069/video/7343850413655067950?embed_source=71929438%2C121374463%2C121404359%2C121351166%2C121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_card_play&refer=embed&referer_url=iframely.publishing.yahoo.net%2FwI9cc6J%3Fapp%3D1%26v%3D1%26img%3D1%26lazy%3D1&referer_video_id=7343844982781922606

Backup here if needed:

“God help her” — Two Zookeepers Trapped In Gorilla Cage at Fort Worth TX Zoo pic.twitter.com/4aLlqEZSoY

— DailyNoah.com (@DailyNoahNews) March 11, 2024

Now back to Harambe for a minute….

If you don’t know what happened in that story or what ended up of the kid who fell in, here you go:

Harambe was a 17-year-old Western lowland gorilla who became the center of a global controversy and tragedy on May 28, 2016, at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden in the United States. The incident began when a 3-year-old boy climbed through a barrier and fell into the gorilla’s enclosure. Harambe then grabbed and dragged the child through the water, leading to widespread panic among onlookers.

The zoo’s response team made the difficult decision to shoot and kill Harambe in order to protect the child, fearing that tranquilizers would take too long to take effect and could agitate Harambe further, potentially endangering the boy’s life. The child was rescued from the enclosure with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, including a concussion and some bruises. He was taken to the hospital and released the next day.

The incident sparked a major debate on social media and among animal rights groups about the ethics of keeping wild animals in zoos, the adequacy of zoo barriers, and the responsibilities of parents in supervising their children. Many people mourned the death of Harambe, questioning whether the killing was necessary, while others defended the zoo’s decision to prioritize the child’s life over the gorilla’s.

In the aftermath, the Cincinnati Zoo made improvements to the barrier around the gorilla enclosure to prevent similar incidents in the future. The boy’s family faced scrutiny and criticism from the public, but authorities ultimately decided not to charge them with any wrongdoing, concluding that it was a tragic accident rather than a result of negligence. The incident remains a poignant reminder of the complex ethical considerations surrounding wildlife conservation, zoo management, and human-animal interactions.

The child, whose name was not released due to privacy concerns, was taken to a hospital for evaluation and treatment. He suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was later released from the hospital. The incident led to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to determine if the zoo had followed proper safety protocols.