Escaped Gorilla Bites Buffalo Zookeeper

A quick-thinking Buffalo zookeeper locked herself in with a female gorilla and her newborn after being attacked by an escaped 400-pound silverback male. The 24-year-old gorilla, which had escaped through an unsecured door, remained in an area closed to the public. It was tranquilized by a zoo worker using a blow dart before being dragged back to its enclosure by members of a SWAT team, reports the Buffalo News.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever done in my career," the SWAT team's captain said. "It's a 400-pound animal that's capable of who knows what. He could rip your arm out of its socket." The zookeeper suffered superficial bite wounds to her hand and calf, in what official say was probably an act of excitement, not aggression. "He was probably as surprised to come face to face with her as she was," the zoo's president says. "I think he was more excited than hostile." (More gorilla stories.)