A baby gorilla has died at a zoo in Canada after suffering from a fatal injury.
Last week, the Calgary Zoo announced the death of a two-year-old female western lowland gorilla called Eyare which has been confirmed to be an accident caused by human error.
The gorilla died last Wednesday after being involved in an incident that saw her sustain traumatic head injuries after a member of staff at the facility accidentally opened the wrong door to the enclosure.
Eyare was said to have been moving around in the back of the enclosure, "roaming from bedroom to bedroom", and interacting with the other gorillas when the incident occurred.
Colleen Baird, Director of Animal Care, Health and Welfare said that the team tried their best to save the little one's life.
“A member of her care team intended to activate a door to separate Eyare from other members of the troop for an individual animal training session but mistakenly activated the wrong door, resulting in Eyare being struck by the door and sustaining traumatic head injuries," Baird said in the statement.
"The gorilla team retrieved Eyare from the troop and the Veterinary team immediately commenced lifesaving measures, including CPR. Sadly, Eyare succumbed to her injuries," she added.
Once the news was posted to Instagram, social media users took to the comments to leave well wishes as well as their opinions about what had happened.
"I'm so sad for this baby. Just another reason why maybe we don't need exotic creatures behind glass for us to gawk at. Rest easy, little babe," wrote one person, while another added: "Sending your team and community our warmest condolences."
A third also commented: "As heartbreaking as it is to read, thank you for your full transparency. So much love to the gorilla troop, and in particular to the staff person who was involved."
However, not everyone was as supportive, with some people vowing to cancel their memberships over the accidental loss.
"Why’s there been so many animal deaths lately? makes me want to cancel my membership and stop supporting.. you guys gotta get it together," this user wrote.
Another agreed, writing: "We have decided not to review our zoo membership… the quality has been declining year after year. Animal welfare combined with the Dino area losing animatronics makes it not worth the cost."
In the wake of the terrible accident, the zoo has launched a formal investigation into the matter and has shared a handful of new measures that will be put into place to ensure things like this don't happen again.
"While the investigation into the cause of death has concluded, the zoo doesn’t take these findings lightly and is continuing to conduct a thorough review to identify any potential opportunities to enhance staff training, improve animal care processes, and reinforce safeguards moving forward," a statement posted to the website read, before going on to add that they will also be "[enhancing] safeguards and new animal behavior training" as well as "reassessing control lever locations."
Baird noted that the tragedy "has struck us all in the deepest way imaginable."
"Eyare’s short but impactful life brought so much joy to our community, and she will be deeply missed by all. We will do everything we can to prevent future incidents," she added.
According to the Daily Mail, Eyare's unfortunate death marks the second human-caused animal mortality case at the Canadian zoo.
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