KANSAS CITY, MO (CNN/KSHB) – Visitors at the Kansas City zoo got more excitement than they bargained for Sunday when two gorillas escaped inside a building. The area was put on lockdown and families were forced to go to a safe spot while workers tried to corner them.
The workers soon came face to face with two 400 pound gorillas. "If probably anyone was in danger, those two keepers were," said zoo director Randy Wisthoff. Wisthoff said although there was a safety door preventing the gorillas from getting to the public, nobody knew how the apes would react being in the same room with the workers.
"Gorilla's are very territorial and you just don't know - we don't go in with them," said Wisthoff. The apes were more interested in looking around in the building, according to Wisthoff, so the workers ran for cover. "They had a ladder in the exhibit they climbed up the ladder and got out of the exhibit," said Wisthoff.
Once the workers managed to escape the exhibit, they began to move visitors away from the area. Word quickly spread among the zoo's guests. "A little kid said everybody get out of Africa, get out of Africa," said visitor Alex Judge.
Although a few visitors thought it was a joke, everyone quickly realized the seriousness of the situation. "We weren't going to take any chances. I had my daughter with me, so it was let's move it," said visitor Matt Jacobs. Families were moved out of the African exhibit area to safe zones like restaurants. No one was hurt and after four hours the gorillas were back in their homes. Zoo officials said the incident started by a zoo worker forgetting to secure a lock. Officials will review the incident to make sure it doesn't happen again.