Zoo gorilla learns lesson about food theft

ATLANTA, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Zoo Atlanta officials said the attraction's 19-year-old male gorilla, Taz, bit his daughter on the leg to teach her a lesson about stealing his raisins.

The officials said Kazi, one of the zoo's twin gorillas, raised her father's ire the first time she took raisins from him, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday.

"He yelled at her," said Dwight Lawson, the zoo's senior vice president of collections, education and conservation.

Lawson said the gorilla yelled a second time when Kazi came back for another helping, but on her third trip, he'd had enough.

"He picked her up and bit her on the leg," Lawson said.

Lawson said Kazi was limping after the encounter, and was found to have a leg fracture as a result of the bite. A team of specialists affixed a stainless-steel plate on her leg that the bone will eventually grow over.

Lawson said Kazi, who at last report was walking cautiously, has been placed in a separate pen with her mother and twin brother until she fully heals.