Woman paid the price after smiling at gorilla in enclosure despite warnings
Topics: Animals, Nature, World News
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: JERRY LAMPEN/Rob Doolaard/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Animals, Nature, World News
A woman in the Netherlands learned the horrific and unexpected consequences that can come from simply smiling at an animal after she was attacked by a gorilla.
If you're an animal lover, it can be pretty hard not to smile at the creatures.
It might be because they're cute, funny, or even appear to be smiling at you first - there's just something about them that brings joy.
But visitors to Diergaarde Blijdorp zoo in Rotterdam had been advised by a zookeeper not to smile or even make eye contact with one particular resident; a 400-pound gorilla named Bokito.
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One man who visited the zoo with his 57-year-old wife recalled getting the advice from the zookeeper, but the woman was a regular visitor at the zoo and often smiled at Bokito when she saw him.
In fact, the woman had reportedly been visiting the gorilla almost daily since he was four months old, meaning she was very familiar with the huge creature.
"I even have pictures and videos from Berlin when he was only 4 months old,” the woman said in an interview with local newspaper De Telegraaf.
"If I laugh at him, he laughs back."
It sounds like a friendly relationship, but things took a turn one day in 2007 after children visiting the zoo began throwing rocks towards Bokito.
The gorilla then jumped over his enclosure to where his regular female visitor was stood, and began attacking her.
Bokito reportedly dragging her around, bit her and caused multiple fractures. He then continued his rampage into a restaurant, where three more people were injured.
Eventually, zookeepers were able to get Bokito under control by sedating him with a tranquilizer gun, after which he was taken back to his enclosure.
Meanwhile, the woman was taken to hospital to be treated for her injuries.
According to the Great Adventure Safaris website, humans are advised against making eye contact with gorillas as they might be considered an 'enemy'.
The site states: "To mountain gorillas, any person who keeps direct eye contact with them is a challenger and an enemy who comes to destroy the family.
"Direct eye contact will therefore force the silverback to charge and fight you in order to defend his family. If you want to be peaceful with gorillas, you should avoid eye contact."
The woman admitted she thought she was going to 'die' while being attacked by the gorilla, but in spite of the incident she said had no ill feelings towards Bokito, saying: "He is and remains my darling."