Gorillas gain access to kitchen at Calgary Zoo

The Calgary Zoo says some of its gorillas managed to escape their enclosure on Sunday and enter a kitchen next door.

The zoo says that no one was hurt in the incident and that the gorillas got into a keeper kitchen in a secondary containment area in the TransAlta Rainforest building.

“On Sunday afternoon a number of our gorillas were able to get into the back kitchen area of the TransAlta Rainforest building,” said Trish Exton-Pardner from the Calgary Zoo.

The gorillas were also unharmed and the zoo says it has launched an investigation into the incident and will take appropriate action once that is complete.

Exton-Pardner say the zoo has a group of six gorillas in residence but they are not sure how many were in the kitchen.

“We’re not sure exactly how many at this stage, again we’re still in the investigation process but want to assure everybody that there was no injuries whatsoever in what occurred on Sunday,” said Exton-Pardner.

The zoo says it has invested a significant amount to establish safe working systems at the facility but says the incident serves as a reminder that “there is no room for error or complacency when working with dangerous animals.”

"We have an alert system so our folks were aware of what was happening and so were communicating with our animal care team," said Exton-Pardner. "We meet with people involved and find out exactly what happened and then everybody has to make a choice and decision on what the disciplinary factors will be should we determine that there was human error."

To see the zoo’s statement, visit the Calgary Zoo 's facebook page.