British man who fell into gorilla enclosure as a boy and was protected by silverback tells his story 40 years later
The story of the young boy who fell into a gorilla enclosure and was protected by a silverback is one etched into the minds of many.
Long before the tragedy of the king of many, Harambe (may he rest in peace), Levan Merritt had a far more positive encounter.
Just five-years-old at the time, he fell into a gorilla’s enclosure at Jersey Zoo back in 1986. The Brit’s family had travelled over from West Sussex when he leaned a little too far over the railing while trying to ‘get a better view’ of the animals and ended up falling down.
And pretty quickly, panic grew as Merritt lay unconscious on the ground.
Advert
So, you can only imagine that fear when Jambo, the big silverback gorilla, began making his way over to the boy.
Warning: this video contains imagery of an injured child which some viewers may find distressing.
But as he stretched out his whopping arm, the 18-stone animal didn’t attack and instead gently stroked the child’s back.
A tourist captured the whole thing on video as Jambo protected Merritt from the other gorillas before he was rescued.
Looking back on the pretty mad incident decades later, the Brit previously told the Daily Mail that it ‘will be with me forever.'
“Although I could remember nothing of the actual incident I can remember the aftermath and everything that followed in the months and years afterwards,” he explained.
“People are always fascinated to hear about the story and to watch the video clip. It has always given me a bit of celebrity. Often my friends tell people and they are stunned.”
When he did finally regain consciousness, Merritt began screaming, having cracked his skull and broken his arm in the fall.
Jumbo had left the boy unattended while a younger male gorilla tried to disturb the rescue effort of the zookeepers and ambulance worker that had entered the enclosure. Once pulled up my a rope by other rescue workers, he was airlifted to Southampton General Hospital.
Now a dad-of-three himself, he’s hoping to return to the zoo next year for the 40th anniversary of the incident.
“I loved animals back then, especially wild animals, and I still do. I'm a big animal lover and so are my kids,” Merritt explained.
Although, he does admit that while his kids love visiting zoos, they’ve begun to find his wild story ‘a bit boring.'
“Some people can still remember the clip but I don't tell people about it so much anymore. Some neighbours and friends know but some don't,” the man added.
It wasn’t all so exciting to be able to tell that story though, as he often found himself getting bullied as ‘gorilla boy’ when he returned to school.
But, the man remains ‘proud’ to have helped change the public perception of gorillas with a bronze statue of Jambo unveiled in the 1990s.
Jess Battison