A baby gorilla was tragically crushed in an accident deemed a ‘human error’ when a zoo worker activated the wrong door in the enclosure, fatally injuring the animal.
Eyare, a 2-year-old female western lowland gorilla, died Wednesday after a member of the Wilder Institute-Calgary Zoo activated the wrong enclosure door, striking the baby animal and causing a traumatic head injury.
The gorilla was moving around the back of the enclosure, wandering from bedroom to bedroom and interacting with the other gorillas when the harrowing incident occurred.
“A member of (Eyare’s) care team intended to activate a door to separate Eyare from other troop members for individual animal training, but accidentally activated the wrong door, causing Eyare to be struck by the door and suffer a traumatic head injury, Colleen Baird, Director of Animal Care, Health and Welfare at the Canadian Zoo, said.
The zoo’s gorilla team immediately removed the injured gorilla from the habitat before the veterinary team took over.
The veterinary team then performed life-saving measures to keep the 2-year-old gorilla alive, including CPR. But “unfortunately, Eyare succumbed to her injuries,” Baird said.
Following the heartbreaking accident, the zoo launched a formal investigation and has since shared the preventive and corrective measures they will maintain moving forward.
The locations of the door control levers are also being reassessed following the incident.
Eyare, a 2-year-old female western lowland gorilla, died Wednesday after a member of the Wilder Institute-Calgary Zoo activated the wrong enclosure door, striking the baby animal and causing a traumatic head injury
The gorilla was moving around the back of the enclosure, wandering from bedroom to bedroom and interacting with the other gorillas when the harrowing incident occurred. Pictured: The Wilder Institute-Calgary Zoo in Calgary, Canada
The zoo’s gorilla team immediately removed the injured gorilla from the habitat before the veterinary team took over
The zoo also said the gorilla care team member directly involved in the accident was immediately removed from the workplace and will be required to undergo further training before being transferred to another part of the zoo.
“This tragedy has affected all of us in the deepest way imaginable,” Baird added.
“Eyare’s short but impactful life brought so much joy to our community, and she will be deeply missed by all. We will do everything we can to prevent future incidents.”
The Calgary Zoo has had two human-caused animal deaths in the past decade.
One from 2016, when a North American river otter drowned after becoming entangled in an “unauthorized” pair of pants that a zookeeper accidentally dropped in its enclosure.
Eyare’s sad death was the second case of human-caused animal death at the Canadian zoo.
The Wilder Institute-Calgary Zoo cares for more than 4,000 animals, including six other western lowland gorillas, Jasiri, Zuri, Yewande, Kioja, Dossi and Okabe.