Gorilla In A Miff Flight Delayed After Primate Goes Ape In Cargo Hold

It’s bad enough having to change planes on a transcontinental flight. But if you’re a cranky 490-pound gorilla, people pay attention.

Vip, a 17-year-old lowland gorilla bound for Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo, delayed a flight from Salt Lake City to Seattle by pitching a fit in the airplane’s cargo hold, said Lee Werle, the zoo’s mammal curator.

As the Delta Airlines passenger flight taxied from the terminal Tuesday, the agitated ape began banging loudly on his crate.

“The pilot got concerned because he could hear the gorilla going ‘thumpa, thumpa,”’ Werle said. The passengers could hear it, too.

The plane returned to the terminal and Vip, a keeper and a veterinarian got off the flight, which was delayed for about 90 minutes.

The gorilla, being shipped from the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, apparently experienced some travel stress after changing planes at Salt Lake, Werle said.

He was put up for the night at Salt Lake City’s Hogle Zoo.

Although Delta was willing to try the flight again, keepers decided it would be better to drive the rest of the way - a 700 mile trip.

Vip and his keepers were expected to arrive at Woodland Park today, Werle said. Vip will travel in his shipping crate and probably be mildly sedated “to take the edge off.”

Once Vip arrives in Seattle, he’ll be quarantined for at least 30 days, then moved to the main gorilla compound to meet two females in need of a mate, Werle said.

Woodland Park Zoo has four grown female gorillas, two males and an infant female.

Vip was born in captivity to wild-born parents in The Netherlands, making his genes important to the North American captive gorilla population.

He has yet to sire any offspring.