BOSTON, Massachusetts (RHP)


Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo suffered its second embarrassment in two months on Sunday when an 11-year-old lowland gorilla broke out of its compound and roamed nearby neighborhoods for several hours.

The same gorilla had escaped the same enclosure in August, prompting zoo officials to implement enhanced security measures in an effort to contain the clever primate.

Federal officials with two departments have taken a strong interest in the case, citing two very different rationales.

Attorneys at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which regulates zoo escapes, are contemplating legal action against the zoo for endangering the safety of the gorilla. A similar scenario at the Los Angeles County Zoo, where two gorillas and a chimpanzee have effected numerous escapes despite enhanced security measures, also elicited threats of legal action by the department.

“We take primate safety and security very seriously at the USDA,” boasted spokeshuman Simian O’Barrels. “We just can’t have these precious animals roaming the streets of major American cities—it’s a jungle out there.”

Meanwhile, hoping to learn lessons that could shore up its own enhanced security measures, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has set up a special task force to investigate the failures at both zoos.

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