BOSTON ZOO GORILLA ESC-APES

Boston police armed with automatic weapons, night-vision goggles and the world’s biggest butterfly net captured a serial escapee last night – a gorilla who busted out of the Franklin Park Zoo.

“I’ve been in this business 36 years and this is my first gorilla story,” said police Capt. Al Goslin.

The ape escape was thwarted after about two hours, but not before a 2-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman were slightly injured.

It was not clear if they were attacked by the animal or hurt themselves running away.

The 11-year-old gorilla is a repeat offender named Little Joe, who previously broke out on Aug. 13 and wandered around the zoo for 10 minutes before turning himself in by returning to his exhibit.

Last night, Little Joe busted out about 6 p.m. just as the zoo was closing.

“We cannot let it, I repeat, we cannot let it get out on the street,” one cop said over his radio.

But it was too late.

Roxbury residents described SWAT-team cops, guns drawn, fleeing from Little Joe as he strode down the street like King Kong looking for Fay Wray.

At one point, Little Joe sat down at a bus stop.

Police reinforcements were called in. They hit him with tranquilizer darts, which slowed him down but didn’t stop him.

“How long does it take for these things to take effect? Five minutes, 10 minutes?” shouted one cop.

Not anxious to find out, cops blasted their sirens trying to scare the gorilla back into the park.

“He was going through some aggressive modes, banging his chest. But I think it was just posturing. I think he was as intrigued with us as we were with him,” Police Superintendent Robert Dunford said.

Cops lost sight of Little Joe when it became dark, and they had to use night-vision goggles and thermal-imaging devices. When they spotted him, they used another dart, the net and an injection to finally subdue him.

With reports from the Boston Herald

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