Home » News & Politics » Kids Have Fallen Into Gorilla Enclosures In The Past But With Different Endings

Kids Have Fallen Into Gorilla Enclosures In The Past But With Different Endings

Written By Inside Edition on Tuesday, May 31, 2016 | 05:44 PM

 
Before the Cincinnati Zoo tragedy involving a little boy and a giant gorilla, there have been other, similar encounters that ended without the primate being shot to death. In 1986, a 5-year-old boy named Levan Merritt fell into a gorilla enclosure and was knocked unconscious. A silverback gorilla named Jambo stroked the boy's back as if to soothe him. In 1996, a 3-year-old boy tumbled more than 20 feet into the gorilla exhibit. She placed him near the cage's door and stepped back as zookeepers picked up the child. #InsideEdition