London Zoo was put on lockdown for several hours on Thursday and visitors were evacuated after an adult gorilla escaped from its enclosure, UK media reported. The primate was eventually shot with a tranquilizer dart and captured.
"Police were called by security at Regent’s Park at 5.17pm to reports of an ongoing incident," Scotland Yard said. "Officers are there to support ZSL staff."
An eyewitness told BBC Radio London that as he and his family were sealed off in the restaurant, they “saw the police turning up in numbers with loads of guns.”
The escape of the London gorilla was trending on Twitter, as users of the popular microblogging website were drawing humorous parallels to current events, including Brexit and Donald Trump's tumultuous presidential bid across the ocean.
"The gorilla escaped to get some marmite from tesco, because of Brexit. I'm a journalist," tweeted caustic Vice writer Sam Kriss in an apparent dig at his quip-happy media peers.
Many evoked the famous incident in the Cincinnati Zoo, where a silverback gorilla was shot after it grabbed a young boy who had fallen into its enclosure in a chilling incident captured on video.
Hundreds of thousands rushed to sign online petitions condemning the child's mother for indirectly causing the death of the 17-year-old ape — with a virulence that some denounced as a "witch-hunt."
The mass outcry over the killing of Harambe, perceived by some as outsized, turned the primate into an ironic online meme, much to the consternation of the zoo staff.
"We are not amused by the memes, petitions and signs about Harambe," zoo director Thane Maynard told AP. "Our zoo family is still healing, and the constant mention of Harambe makes moving forward more difficult for us."
