Posted on 06/05/2014 10:28:51 AM PDT by billorites
Frantic zoo keepers in Tenerife rushed to call an ambulance after a vet shot a tranquilizer dart at a man dressed as a gorilla.
Police on the Spanish island received a call from a panicked member of the public, who said that a gorilla had escaped from its pen in Loro Park zoo, and was seen running around the theme park.
A vet was called, and on spotting the creature fired a tranquilizer dart at its leg with enough sedative to fell a 200kg beast.
But to his horror, the vet - who had only been in the job for two months - realised that the creature was in fact an employee of the zoo, dressed in a gorilla suit, who was staging a mock escape to practise their emergency routines.
The 35-year-old man was taken to the island's University Hospital after the shooting, which happened after the call to the police was made at 11.40am on Monday, according to La Opinion de Tenerife.
He was said to be in a serious condition, having suffered an allergic reaction to the tranquiliser, but was expected to make a full recover
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I dunno. Guilty I suppose
Looks like it worked.
Gorilla warfare, older than the war on terrier...
Of course, he could have been looking for the gorilla his dreams.
I have an idea!
Sounds like somebody didn’t get the memo.
I am the proud owner of a gorilla suit we put red eyes on. We get pissed up drunk and run across rural roads in it to spur Bigfoot sightings. Now I’ve gotta be careful.
OOPS!.................sorry 'bout that, chief..................
big gorilla at the LA zoo, snatched the glasses right off my face, took the keys to my BMW, let me here to take his place.
Though Zevon probably could have handled the tranq.
Where did he get his degree? online?.................
Goes to the old...”Never volunteer”
“Trading Places” - That scene was the first thing I thought of too!
Anyone who has run a disaster recovery test, realizes what can happen.
‘, but was expected to make a full recover’
as in recover payment for pain and suffereing from a lawsuit?
UPDATE:
The incident was reported in the local Tenerife paper with the erroneous explanation that the keeper had been wearing a gorilla suit in order to make the practice drill more realistic and that one of the vets had fired at him after mistaking him for a real ape.
In fact, zoo management explained on Thursday that during the course of the exercise the vet accidentally released the tranquilliser dart into the leg of a zookeeper who was in the empty enclosure with him.
“The incident took place just after the vet had been informed that the alarm had been raised for a practice drill and not a real emergency,” explained Patricia Delponti, a spokesman from Loro Parque.
“He did not mean to hit the zookeeper and the zookeeper was not pretending to be a gorilla. He was wearing his normal uniform and had just informed the vet that it was a practice drill. It was simply an accident.”
The 35-year-old zookeeper has now fully recovered after being given an immediate antidote to the tranquilliser and treated in hospital.
“Obviously he was sleeping a lot after being shot with a tranquilliser meant for a 200kg gorilla and was under observation in hospital to make sure there were no lasting effects. But he has made a full recovery and is already back at work,” she said.
“Someone obviously got the wrong end of the stick about how we carry out a practice drill but the truth is there was no gorilla suit involved,” she said.
“Shut up or you’ll get us both fired!.” (Old zoo joke)
For a moment there, I thought they just might have found Beeks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.