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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Gorilla-Visit.html?ex=998307828&ei=1&en=47732df3dced899e 
<http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Gorilla-Visit.html?ex=998307828&amp;ei=1&amp;en=47732df3dced899e>


August 8, 2001

Man Jumps Into Zoo's Gorilla Exhibit

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 5:33 p.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- Saying he wanted to be "at one with the monkeys," a man 
stripped down to his boxer shorts, scaled a high fence and jumped into 
the Bronx Zoo's gorilla exhibit Wednesday, police said.

A quick-thinking zoo employee was able to herd the gorillas into their 
feeding cages before the man, identified as 32-year-old Peter Vetique, 
could come near them.

"There was no physical contact between the two species," said Sgt. 
Andrew McInnis, a police spokesman.

The incident happened shortly after 11 a.m. at the Congo Gorilla Forest 
exhibit, one of the zoo's most popular attractions. In front of several 
zoo visitors, Vetique took off his clothes and, wearing only his boxers, 
climbed the 20-foot wall, McInnis said. A zoo employee opened the 
feeding cages to lure the gorillas inside.

After about 15 minutes, police arrested Vetique. As he was being led 
away, police asked him why he did it.

"I want to be at one with the monkeys," Vetique told them, according to 
McInnis.

Vetique was taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

The 6.5-acre exhibit was opened in 1999 and is home to the largest group 
of lowland gorillas in the United States.