Baby gorilla killed by zookeeper’s error: ‘Terrible tragedy’

Madeline Sherratt

25 November 2024 at 1:00 pm·2-min read

Eyare, a 2-year-old female western lowland gorilla, died after a zookeeper ‘mistakenly activated the wrong door’ striking her in the head (The Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo)

A baby gorilla was killed when it was struck in the head by a door “mistakenly” activated by a zookeeper in Canada.

Eyare, a 2-year-old female western lowland gorilla, died after the keeper opened the wrong hydraulic door in error, according to the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo.

The zookeeper “was immediately removed from the workplace following the incident”, the zoo said in a statement.

The accident left the young ape with “traumatic head injuries” prompting a veterinary team to immediately administer lifesaving treatment including CPR.

But despite the attempts Eyare succumbed to her injuries, said director of Animal Care, Health, and Welfare, Colleen Baird.

Moments before her tragic death, the small animal had been happily moving around her habitat, moving from bedroom to bedroom while interacting with the other apes, the statement said.

The keeper had intended to activate a separator door to segregate Eyare from her troop for a training session but the wrong door fell and the small creature was hit.

Her death forced the zoo to launch an investigation and share the actions needed to mitigate the incident from happening again in the future.

A list of measures including a review of existing training, specialized hydraulic door training, enhanced safeguarding, and animal behavior training were all cited as areas that needed to be reevaluated, said the zoo.

The statement said: “While the investigation into the cause of death has concluded, the zoo doesn’t take these findings lightly and is continuing to conduct a thorough review to identify any potential opportunities to enhance staff training, improve animal care processes, and reinforce safeguards moving forward.”

Baird added: “This tragedy has struck us all in the deepest way imaginable.

“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 zookeeper responsible will be required to undergo additional training in another area of the zoo before returning to work with animals, the statement read.

Malay Mail
‘Take as much as you need’: Khairul Aming can take supplies from Mydin to help flood victims in Kelantan, says its MD (VIDEO)
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 2 –– Wholesaler and retailer Mydin Mohamed Holdings Berhad (Mydin) has facilitated influencer Khairul...
AFP News
New Zealand scientists dissect world's rarest whale
New Zealand scientists on Monday began dissecting a whale considered the rarest in the world, a species so elusive that only seven specimens have ever been documented. "This one is the rarest of the rare -- only the seventh specimen known from anywhere in the world, and the first opportunity we have had to undertake a dissection like this."
The Guardian
Scientists dissect ‘world’s rarest whale’ for clues on little-known species
Only seven spade-tooth whales have ever been documented, now work is beginning on a specimen that washed ashore in New Zealand in July
Associated Press
Floods wreak havoc in Malaysia, southern Thailand with over 30 killed, tens of thousands displaced
Severe floods caused by monsoon rains killed more than 30 people and displaced tens of thousands in Malaysia and southern Thailand, officials said Tuesday, with both countries preparing shelters and evacuation plans in anticipation of more heavy rain. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said five days of heavier-than-expected rain that battered the country's east coast last week was equal to the rainfall over the past six months, wreaking havoc in the northeastern state of Kelantan and neighboring Terengganu.
Malay Mail
Penang to build RM6.3m flood retention pond and blue-green corridor to manage flash floods
GEORGE TOWN, Dec 3 — The Penang government, through the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID), today launched two mul...
People
Bear Killed After Spending 2 Days Inside a Supermarket Ransacking Meat Department and Attacking Worker
As there were no customers at the time, the bear roamed inside the store in Japan and helped itself to the meat stock
Reuters
Russian drones attack critical infrastructure in Ukraine's west, air force says
The attack left part of the city of Ternopil without electricity, its mayor said, a week after Moscow's strikes cut power to much of the city and its surrounding region. Russia mounted two big attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure in November, triggering power cuts across the country in the build-up to winter.
The Hill
Feeding grazing cows seaweed could cut their methane emissions by nearly 40 percent: Study
Supplementing the diets of grazing beef cows with seaweed in pellet form could cut their methane emissions by almost 40 percent, a new study has found. The seaweed pellets led to this plunge in emissions without affecting the health or weight of the cows, according to the study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National…
AFP News
Indigenous groups call for health protections in plastic deal
For Caleb Justin Smith-White, negotiations in South Korea on a landmark global deal to curb plastic pollution are about more than the environment.- 'Chemicals inside us' - The draft deal in Busan describes plastic pollution as a "serious environmental and human health problem".
Malay Mail
Malaysian banks extend relief schemes for flood-hit customers
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 — The Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) today said its members have launched several assistance...
The Guardian
Land degradation expanding by 1m sq km a year, study shows
Report calls for course correction to avoid land abuse ‘compromising Earth’s capacity to support human and environmental wellbeing’
The Guardian
Environmental groups demand EPA to start monitoring microplastics in water
Legal petition filed by 170 groups pushes environmental agency to tackle pressing health threat of pollution
RFI
As Arctic climate warms, even Santa runs short of snow
With a month to go until Christmas, Santa Claus is busy preparing, but the warming climate and lack of snow in his Arctic hometown have him worried. By this time of year, the town of Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland – marketed by tourism officials since the 1980s as the "real" home of Santa Claus – should be white and pretty.But on a recent visit, rain poured down from a gloomy slate sky and the temperature was well above freezing, with the thermometer showing +2C."My reindeer can fly, so that's no
Malay Mail
How Malaysians are cutting electricity costs with solar energy for long-term savings, sustainability as prices drop and govt incentives grow
Homeowners are saving on electricity bills through solar energy systems as installation costs decrease and government...
The Guardian
Bear snared after three day supermarket standoff with Japan police
Authorities in Akita prefecture had struggled to locate the animal, which attacked a man and has eaten large quantities of meat
Reuters
Amazon to pilot AI-designed material for carbon removal
Amazon.com Inc plans to pilot a new carbon-removal material for data centers, which are at risk of worsening emissions from artificial intelligence systems they power, a startup behind the deal said on Monday. In a twist, AI itself, from the startup Orbital Materials, is what designed the carbon-filtering substance, its Chief Executive Jonathan Godwin said. "It's like a sponge at the atomic level," Godwin told Reuters.
The Guardian
‘The smell hurts’: why has the supreme court washed its hands of Argentina’s ‘rotten river’?
Campaigners fear ruling on the toxic Matanza-Riachuelo basin will worsen the region’s many health crises and sends a message ‘environmental damage is not a priority’
The Hill
Opinion - EPA can help unleash our economic might — through its rules, not despite them
The world continues to demand solutions to our climate challenges; the U.S. is incredibly well-positioned to provide them, and EPA policies provide vital support in bringing them to market. I can think of no better way to unleash U.S. economic prosperity than to maintain the EPA's important role in driving private-sector ingenuity forward.
Malay Mail
Perak MB: Segari Melintang forest land replaced with larger reserve in Hulu Perak
IPOH, Dec 3 — Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad said the 548.1 hectares of the Segari Melintang Permanent F...
Associated Press
Colorado officials are hunting a coyote that attacked and injured a 4-year-old girl
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers are hunting a coyote that attacked a 4-year-old girl on Thanksgiving after she mistook it for a dog crouching behind a tree, the agency announced over the weekend. The girl and another child approached the coyote in northern Colorado Springs, about an hour's drive south of Denver, when the animal lunged, grabbing the back of her head and causing serious injuries that led to a night in the hospital, CPW said in a press release Saturday. The girl's father jumped in to stop the attack and scare off the coyote, said Tim Kroening, a CPW wildlife manager, in a statement.

Latest stories