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Zoo Worker Faces Discipline For Gorilla Escape

At least one employee from Kansas City Zoo faces discipline after two gorillas escaped over the weekend.

Zoo director Randy Wisthoff says the employee failed to follow protocol and did not double-check the gorilla habitat’s door locks Sunday.

The Zoo also said it would offer a refund to any visitor inconvenienced by the escape.

Not one but two gorillas escaped from their habitat Sunday.

File photo courtesy of the Kansas City Zoo

Keepers used ladders to scramble over a retaining wall to safety.

The apes are named Ntondo and Mbundi and are 19-years-old. They are half-brothers.

Zookeepers initially tried to lure the beasts back into their holding area with food. When that didn’t work, keepers turned water hoses on them, which did the trick.

Zoo officials say visitors were never in danger Sunday while the western lowland gorillas roamed from their enclosed exhibit into a zookeeper area for about three hours.

Visitors were kept in secure areas for about a half hour before being allowed to leave.

Zoo director Randy Wisthoff says zoo employees eventually used water hoses to push the two male gorillas, which both weigh more than 400 pounds, back into their habitat.

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