Escaped gorilla recaptured at Dallas Zoo

DALLAS, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Officials at the Dallas Zoo say they still are unclear how a 180-pound gorilla managed to temporarily escape from its enclosure.

Tufani the gorilla was first seen on top of her cage Saturday morning and within the hour, the 19-year-old animal was tranquilized and returned to its 40-foot-by-50-foot enclosure, The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday.

"She was nervous," Lynn Kramer, deputy director of animal conservation and science at the zoo, said of Tufani. "She wanted to get in her cage with her mate and was looking for a way back in."

SWAT team members of the Dallas police force were called to the zoo following the initial sighting of the female gorilla.

The Morning News said the temporary escape of Tufani comes years after the 2004 escape of a 13-year-old western lowland gorilla named Jabari at the Dallas Zoo.

The gorilla was killed after it mauled three zoo patrons during a rampage that lasted nearly 40 minutes.