Zookeeper injured after gorilla raids kitchen

An animal keeper at the Calgary Zoo has been injured after an incident with a gorilla.

Theemployee was in the kitchen in the rainforest exhibitaround 9:15 a.m. MT Friday whenhe turned around to find a gorilla.

Officials say the gorilla was contained but the keeper did receive a minor injury.The worker isrecovering after being released from hospital.

An emergency response team locked down the exhibit for roughly 15 minutesas itchecked on the whereabouts of the six gorillas who live there.

Zoo curator Malu Celli says the public was never at harm and this is the first time an incident like this has happened since the exhibit opened in 2003.

"It is an unfortunate event and we'll take every step to make sure that it never happens again,"said Celli. "But the positive side... is that we know everything we put in place in case of an unfortunate situation lived up to expectations."

Zoo officials say they don't know how a gorilla got into the kitchen,as thereare "gorilla-proof" locks ondoors leading to the area.

The investigation will check ifthe zookeeper accidentally leftthe doors open or if thegorilla somehow figured out how to unlock them.

Officials are also looking intohow many gorillas escaped the enclosure.

Another incident in 2009

Calgary Zoo gorillas also made headlines in 2009 when photos taken by a visitor surfaced of a female Western Lowland gorilla holding a knife menacingly toward a troop mate.

Zooofficials said the knifehad beenleft in the enclosureby mistake and none of the animals were hurt.

"They're not an aggressive species at all. In fact, they're quite gentle, passive, shy, animals and most of the behavior that you see that might be seen [as aggressive] is all show and very little action," said zoo spokesperson Cathy Gaviller at the time.