With gorilla on run, zoo, police clashed

[TexasStooge]

By TERRI LANGFORD / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - Despite more than five years of emergency drills together, the Dallas Zoo staff and Dallas police struggled with one another the day Jabari the gorilla escaped, according to zoo records obtained by The Dallas Morning News.

Statements written by zoo employees immediately after the March 18 incident paint a picture of chaos instead of a well-trained team working together to find and subdue the 350-pound western lowland gorilla and rescue the three people injured by the primate. The gorilla was eventually shot to death by police.

For nearly 50 minutes, as the zoo's staff tried to evacuate patrons into locked buildings, move the injured to safety and track Jabari, they found themselves overrun by officers who ignored or were unaware of established emergency protocol the Police Department personnel helped to write.

"It was mayhem," wrote Mike Glover, the zoo's emergency weapons team leader. "Nonzoo personnel were all over the site and approaching any zoo staffer they could find with questions and instructions. They were prepared to move in and frustrated that we were holding them up."

Dallas Interim Police Chief Randy Hampton could not be reached for comment Tuesday on issues raised in the statements.

Rich Buickerood, the zoo's director, had nothing but praise for the officers who responded to the incident, but he did note that improvements will be discussed.

"We had a million plans that we wrote and exercised until we tested them under fire," Mr. Buickerood said. "In this case, we know there are some things we want to talk to the police about."

According to a statement by William Tinkle, a senior animal keeper with the zoo, the SWAT team ran past employees on the nature trail, bypassing a meeting point set up to organize a search-and-rescue mission.

"One other officer told us there was a 2-year-old and 8-year-old still unaccounted for, but I told the officer that the kids were .... [at] Station One secured," Mr. Tinkle said.

Other zoo staff members described how police officers contradicted their own protocol and instructions to visitors that day, causing even more confusion.

"Several officers were asking that the monorail go to the station and unload [without] knowing exactly where Jabari was," Mr. Tinkle wrote.

In another instance, officers led visitors out of buildings after zoo staff members had told the same zoo patrons to remain in the locked buildings.

Mr. Buickerood defended the police shooting of the gorilla.

JABARI'S FINAL MINUTES:

1. Zoo patrons are spotted antagonizing Jabari: Witnesses later reported seeing two teenage boys throwing ice or stones into the exhibit.

2. Jabari breaches his enclosure: Officials could find no evidence of his escape and attribute it to a giant leap over the wall.

3. Jabari enters the aviary: The gorilla long had a fascination with the nearby birds. Once inside, he attacks three patrons.

4. Jabari scares the chimpanzees: Jabari is calm while watching them; they react with panic. The gorilla tests a nearby gate lock and moves on.

5. Jabari is shot: Two SWAT team members encounter the gorilla as he retraces his steps along the nature trail. He charges, and they fire.

[blizzard]

It gets tiring that the police never can admit when they are wrong. There was a protocol to be followed and the zoo seemed to have things under control and then all heck breaks loose.