When the old keeper forgot one latch, the 400-pound silverback reached through the steel

we had watched him lose it. He looked down at his hands and tried again. “I mean he’s been telling the truth. That’s all.”

No one corrected him.

The safety conversation came after that, as everyone knew it had to. Redwood Mesa did not allow direct free contact with adult great apes, but protected contact still required a keeper to remember gate order,continue reading …