Across the Generations

A picture I felt like I needed to post. This is a shot of the gorillas at the San Francisco Zoo, taken last year when the baby gorilla was about 4 months old. She was an absolute darling, and the adults (grandmother here in particular) went to great lengths to protect her from prying eyes and cameras. Tragically, the baby died this past week in a freak accident, being crushed by a closing hydraulic door. Kinda hit home for me, given that I spent so much time photographing her. Not every day you hear something this awful about an animal you've really gotten to know. The adult gorillas have been visibly depressed since the accident, which is completely understandable. You don't really think about animals mourning, but it's pretty obvious to see.

For what it's worth, the San Francisco Zoo seems to be doing all the right things since the accident, hiring an independent investigator, periodically closing the gorillas' exhibit to give them time to themselves to mourn, etc. Hindsight is always 20-20, but I know they will take precautions so that no tragedy like this can happen again going forward.