Zoo animal behavior consultant and author comments on recent gorilla escape and attack at Dallas Zoo.

"Code One: Dangerous animal escape" is not something you want to hear on the radio if you are a zoo employee, but that is exactly what happened on March 18, 2004 at the Dallas Zoo when a male gorilla escaped injuring several people onsite before he was shot down by local law enforcement.

Animal escapes or attacks are not a new phenomena. Each year zoo animals, wild animals, and precious pets injure humans. Human error and lack of mitigation procedures contribute to escaped animal problems. "It is a shame that the gorilla was not darted heavily enough with a tranquilizer gun. It was reported that they could not get a clear shot, and many enforcement agencies want to eliminate the threat right away," says zoo animal behavior consultant, Diana L Guerrero.

In 1998 the same zoo had a keeper seriously injured by a gorilla who escaped into the keeper area. The Dallas Zoo reported staff shortages due to budget cuts. "Trained staff and contingency planning go a long way to preventing injury and death when animals escape," Guerrero commented.

Guerrero is a contributing editor to Resources For Crisis Management in Zoos and Other Animal Facilities and is certified by in emergency animal management by FEMA and other agencies.

She currently is touring to promote her new book, What Animals Can Teach Us about Spirituality. "The book uses analagies about the less beastly behaviors animals can exhibit and that we can learn from," Guerrero said, "but I also mention that animals exhibit 'good and bad' traits. Unfortunately people forget that anything that has claws and teeth can inflict injury. Even animals you think you know."

Guerrero is currently touring around southern California and is scheduled to speak to the American Association of Zoo Keepers at the Living Desert Zoo in Palm Desert, California in early April.