↓ Read on to watch this amazing video
When you go to the zoo, the last thing you want to see is a dog. While we love man’s best friend, zoos are home to wild animals. On a Sunday in June 2022, a stray dog entered the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and eventually found its way in the gorilla area, according to park officials.
A gorilla’s diet consists of more than 40 vegetables and fruits per day. Thankfully for stray dogs, gorillas are herbivores and eat yogurt, ants, and yogurt snail larvae, but they don’t eat the meat of other animals or the meat of gorillas.
Social media users captured the gorilla and dog anxiously evaluating each other for several seconds as bystanders tried to get the pup out of its enclosure. Eventually, the dog ran past the holding gorilla and through the fence.
The gorilla is on his tail as he runs around the fence! This led to onlookers cheering the dog on and cheering loudly. One can be heard saying, “Hurry up!” The puppy sticks out its tongue, panting from hard work, and stops to take a break.
When he looked at the primate, he turned and almost laughed! At one point, he looked as though he was going back to the gorilla, but luckily he chose a path that kept enough distance between the two animals.
San Diego County Humane Society police were able to safely enter and remove the dog, as zoo officials immediately found and removed the gorilla. Just because primates don’t eat dogs doesn’t mean they don’t see it as a threat.
rescue mission
To find its owner, officials returned the dog to the Humane Society’s Escondido campus. It was determined that the dog was a male collie who had not been microchipped. The dog is doing well after leaving the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, according to Brant, a humanitarian officer who assisted in the rescue.
His master, the Humane Society hopes, may head to the Escondido campus. He is tentatively known as Mighty Joe Young. During an inspection at the Escondido campus the next day, the veterinarian found some ticks on the pet and gave him flea medication and vaccinations, according to a tweet from the San Diego Humane Society.
Even in the doctor’s office, the almighty Joo-young seems content. A man named Michael commented on the zoo footage and said what we were all thinking:
“I’m glad the dog was rescued safely and hope it will be adopted after this news report. I’m also relieved to hear that the gorillas were unharmed and there were no feuds between the species.”
Check out the footage below.
next
Ready to discover the top 10 cutest dog breeds in the world?
How about the fastest dogs, the biggest dogs, and those who are – quite frankly – just the kindest dogs on earth? Every day, AZ Animals sends out lists like this to our thousands of email subscribers. The best part? free. Join today by entering your email below.
Thanks for reading! Have some feedback for us? Contact the AZ Animals editorial team.
I am broadly interested in how human activities influence the ability of wildlife to persist in the modified environments that we create.
Specifically, my research investigates how the configuration and composition of landscapes influence the movement and population dynamics of forest birds. Both natural and human-derived fragmenting of habitat can influence where birds settle, how they access the resources they need to survive and reproduce, and these factors in turn affect population demographics. Most recently, I have been studying the ability of individuals to move through and utilize forested areas which have been modified through timber harvest as they seek out resources for the breeding and postfledging phases. As well I am working in collaboration with Parks Canada scientists to examine in the influence of high density moose populations on forest bird communities in Gros Morne National Park. Many of my projects are conducted in collaboration or consultation with representatives of industry and government agencies, seeking to improve the management and sustainability of natural resource extraction.
