Matt Brown/FlickrA gorilla has reportedly escaped from its enclosure at London Zoo, forcing guests to take shelter inside a cafe while armed police are on the scene.
As reported by the BBC, ZSL London Zoo has claimed it is ‘managing an incident’.
It is claimed the guests were locked in the cafe by zoo staff at around 17:10pm BST.
@SkyNewsBreak lock in at London Zoo – Gorilla on the loose? pic.twitter.com/X9ukqgrI9o
— hannah (@hannahod) October 13, 2016
A London Zoo employee has been reported by Buzzfeed as claiming the gorilla is a silverback named Kumbuka.
The worker went on to describe said gorilla:
He’s a fucking psycho, that ape. He’s smashed the enclosure glass a couple of times.
Stuck inside Butterfly Paradise at London Zoo as helicopters and sirens all around, something happening with gorillas. #Weird
— Cris (@crisclark) October 13, 2016
One vistor by the name Brad told the BBC that armed officers were seen within the zoo by visitors.
He said:
As we were waiting we saw police turn up with lots of guns.
#LondonZoo is on lockdown after a gorilla escaped from its enclosure. It's now in another part of the zoo #CapitalReports pic.twitter.com/x8qob2kD0B
— Capital London News (@CapitalLONnews) October 13, 2016
#Gorilla on the loose? Huddling in a building at the #londonzoo after staff told us to get into a building quickly! pic.twitter.com/BBbFvBLTn6
— Dr. Jonathan T. Mall (@CognitiveTwo) October 13, 2016
Visitors have since been allowed to leave the premises.
*UPDATE
According to The Mirror, the escaped gorilla has reportedly been subdued with a tranquilizer dart.
