A young gorilla at the San Francisco Zoo was crushed to death when she darted beneath a closing hydraulic door Friday, the zoo said in a statement.
Kabibe, a 15-month-old western lowland gorilla born at the zoo on July 17, 2013, was killed in the freak accident as she and other gorillas were being moved into their night quarters. "Some animal deaths are more difficult to process than others, and this tragedy has struck us all in the deepest way imaginable," San Francisco Zoo Executive Director and President Tanya Peterson said in a statement Saturday.
Kabibe needed 24-hour postnatal care for the first six months of her life, meaning that staff members were uncommonly familiar with the ape and are devastated by her death, the zoo said. Zoo officials were not giving interviews Saturday, but said the incident is under investigation.
