Woman had been warned about gorilla

21 May 2007

AMSTERDAM – A caretaker at the Blijdorp Zoo had warned the victim of the gorilla attack on Friday not to make eye contact with the animal.

The woman suffered serious injuries and is still in hospital. Her husband confirmed in the AD today that several days before the attack the animal’s caretaker had advised the woman to keep her distance from the gorilla habitat and not try to make eye contact.

The gorilla Bokito jumped a waterway of almost 4 metres at the zoo and bit the woman more than 100 times. He dragged her for several metres. The woman is in hospital with broken bones and bite wounds.

Video footage shows the woman, a regular visitor to the zoo, trying to make contact with Bokito through a glass wall at the gorilla habitat. The gorilla probably perceived the eye contact from the human as a threatening gesture and became aggressive as a result, a spokesperson for the zoo said.

Blijdorp is considering putting up signs to warn people against trying to make eye contact with the apes. The zoo in Antwerp already has similar signs.

The victim’s husband said in the AD that the couple plans to sue the zoo. “My wife will need care for a long time. Someone is going to have to pay for that.” The man also thinks that the waterway around the gorilla habitat should have been widened since the ape had already escaped at another zoo.

Subject: Dutch news