On August 16, 1996, a crowd of visitors at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago witnessed a horror scene when a relaxed, family excursion suddenly turned into a nightmare situation. It only took one second for the three-year-old toddler to slip away from his parents. They were visiting the gorilla enclosure at the time…
The young boy managed to climb over the barrier and tumble more than 15 feet into the enclosure, landing near seven gorillas. Although he was only slightly injured by the fall, the crowd looked on in horror, screaming for help. Other visitors could hardly look and kept their eyes closed. At first it appeared the boy had been knocked unconscious by the fall, landing right in the middle of the habitat. It was then, while he was lying on the concrete floor, that an unlikely heroine emerged — one with strong arms and a hairy chest.
