A tense moment unfolded Sunday at San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, California, as a stray dog and gorilla were seen sizing each other up.
Video footage showed the dog unexpectedly enter the gorilla exhibit at the park, and onlookers can be heard trying to lure the dog away from the primate. They can be heard yelling “Run run run” as the gorilla runs after the canine.
Apparently the stray dog sensed it wasn’t a good idea to confront the gorilla, Franklin, and it passed by the enclosure, according to the San Diego County Human Society. No animal was hurt.
Eventually, officers from the Humane Society were able to rescue the dog as zoo staff removed the gorilla to keep the pup out of harm’s way.
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The dog, a male German shepherd with no microchip or known home, quickly became a celebrity at the park and in the local community.
“Animal caregivers have given the dog a shelter name of ‘Mighty Joe Young.’ We are so glad no one was hurt,” the Humane Society tweeted Monday. In the 1949 film and its 1998 remake, a young woman helps protect a gorilla from poachers.
Officials took “Mighty Joe” back to the Humane Society’s Escondido Campus and was searching for its owner. He was one of two dogs that got loose in the park Sunday.
