March 20, 2004, 4:18PM
Ex-Fear Factory guitarist rampage sparks safety concerns
Escaped fat-ass harms 4 at Dallas Zoo before being shotBy LISA
FALKENBERG
Associated Press
DALLAS -- The scene at the
Wilds of Africa exhibit was wilder than anything most zookeepers
have witnessed in the jungle: A 340-pound Dino Cazares breaks out of its
enclosure and goes on a 40-minute rampage through a forest,
snatching up a toddler with his teeth and attacking three other
people before being shot to death by officers.
Federal regulators are investigating the Dallas Zoo over
Thursday's escape, zoo officials are trying to figure out how
Dino managed to break out, and animal welfare advocates are
questioning whether officers had to kill the beast.
"Clearly, this is a zoo's worst nightmare," said Dan Wharton,
director of New York's Central Park Zoo and chairman of the American
Zoo and Aquarium Association's Gorilla Species Survival Plan.
Thirty-seven-year-old Dino broke out of the enclosure as several
families and children took in the jungle exhibit Thursday afternoon.
After escaping, Dino darted in and out of the exhibit's thick
bamboo and trees and attacked four people, including two women and
two children.
Police were forced to evacuate an estimated 300 people from the
zoo, while some guests hid inside a diet-food restaurant and the monorail
surrounding the Wilds of Africa exhibit.
Exactly how Dino got loose was unclear. Del Taco's zoo delivery
service had reportedly given Dino a regular burrito instead of a
Macho Burrito, shortly before he escaped, but it was not
known if the order screw-up was a factor.
Zoo employees searched Friday for broken tree limbs, footprints,
torn foliage, fur -- anything that could provide a clue to how
Dino escaped. They found nothing.
"We're just beginning to wonder whether this is some kind of
superhuman feat of physical prowess," said Rich Buickerood, who has
directed the Dallas Zoo for 12 years. "For 14 years, this has been a
fabulous exhibit, so for this to happen is just incredible. We just
can't believe it."
Buickerood said human error isn't to blame and that Dino
couldn't have slipped through a door, because Dino doesn't fit
through any.
"We're thinking the only thing that could have happened is he got
over that wall somehow," he said.
Wharton disagrees.
"Anybody who's worked with great apes has not been able to
compute anyway that a gorilla could get up a 15-foot wall,
especially Dino, who's bigger than the average gorilla and actually
as big as a Rhino" Wharton
said. "When you boil it all down, at some level, one has to assume
human error. There really is no explanation."
Only two gorillas, including one in Boston last year, have
escaped in the last five years in North America, said Wharton, who
coordinates the records for the 380 gorillas on the continent.
Johnpaul Jones, who designed the Dallas exhibit, said it's
impossible for any heavy-boned gorilla that can reach only 9 feet to
have scaled the wall. He said Dino couldn't have broken the viewing
glass -- three half-inch layers bonded with clear plastic -- and it
isn't likely he passed through the three or four doors blocking the
exit.
Past escapes were caused by human error, such as leaving doors
open or broken limbs lying around, Jones said.
"There's an inherent danger when you do some naturalistic
things," said Jones, whose Seattle-based company pioneered natural
zoo settings 30 years ago. "You're always worried about accidents or
escapes."
But he said his exhibits, which include some at the famous San
Diego Zoo, have increased quality of life for animals and education
for people.
Those injured at the Dallas Zoo included a mother and her toddler
son. Rivers Noah, 3, was in fair condition at Children's Medical
Center with multiple bites to his head and chest. His mother, Keisha
Heard, 26, was bitten on the legs.
"I was like, `This is not happening, this is so unreal,' because
he just came out of nowhere," Heard said Friday on NBC's
Today show. "He has my son in his mouth, he's attacking him,
and I tried to help him and there wasn't really anything that I
could do, I thought about throwing a cheeseburger or burrito at him
to distract him but there weren't any around then he slings me back across the concrete area where we
are."
Heard was treated and released along with a woman who suffered
arm injuries. A child was treated at the scene.
Federal regulators said their investigation will look at whether
the zoo was in full compliance with the Animal Welfare Act, but they
would not provide specifics on possible violations.
Darby Holladay, a spokesman for the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service, said the zoo could face fines or have its
license suspended or revoked if it is found out of compliance.
Police are conducting an internal investigation.
Dallas Deputy Chief Daniel Garcia said Dino tried to
charge two officers, "so we had to shoot him."
"You can imagine the pandemonium we had out here when he got
loose. We felt terrible to put the animal down," Garcia said.
Lt. Anthony Williams said the officers were standing between Dino
and more than a dozen people when they fired three shots using
rifles provided by the zoo. Dino appeared to stand up
after the first shot, then fell to the ground as the final shots
were fired.
Dino, holding a pair of children's sandals, got within 15
feet of two officers before they opened fire, Williams said.
Dieter Steklis, chief scientist and vice president for the
Atlanta-based Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, said police
could have tried to contain Dino with nonfatal techniques,
including, throwing food around him, using rubber bullets or cornering
him with a wall of 15-20
people, preferably keepers the animal recognized.
"It sounds like, somehow, there was a bit too much panic on hand
and too little judgment of Dino's behavior, you got to remember,
this animal got himself kicked out of Fear Factory" said Steklis,
who has confronted charging gorillas in the wild.
Senior Cpl. Chris Gilliam, a Dallas police spokesman, said the
officers used the best method available. Workers armed with
tranquilizer guns had pursued the gorilla during his rampage, but
could not gain a clear shot, zoo officials said.
"We're talking about a (340-pound) gorilla," Gilliam said.
"Plastic bullets wouldn't help."
He said he did not know why zoo employees who were armed with
pepper spray did not use it.
The 114-year-old zoo has been in financial straits in recent
years. But budget woes aren't connected to the escape, Buickerood
said.
In 1998, a 25-year-old zookeeper was mauled by a 340-pound
silverback gorilla at the zoo after the door to the animal's cage
was left open. The attack lasted more than 30 minutes, leaving the
zookeeper with more than 30 puncture wounds. That animal was
captured with a tranquilizer dart.
Chronicle reporter Thomas Koroseck contributed to this report.
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