Zoo workers refuse to rescue drowning monkey – Visitor leaps into water and saves him

Be sure to reach the end of this article to see the full video!

When this man decided to visit the zoo with his family, he never imagined he’d get this close to the animals. This chimp owes him his life.

It all started when the zoo in Detroit, Michigan opened a new enclosure for its chimps.

Animal Planet/YouTube Source: Animal Planet/YouTube

They were hoping to attract more customers and make the animals more comfortable. But one flaw in the enclosure meant that a chimp would end up fighting for his life.

One of the chimps, Jojo, was being chased by another ape when he slipped. He fell into the moat surrounding the enclosure and struggled to stay afloat. The chimp splashed around, but it was clear that if he was going to get out of the water, then he would need some help.

Animal Planet/YouTube Source: Animal Planet/YouTube

The zoo workers looked on, petrified. They were all too scared to get into the water and attempt to rescue the poor animal. For a moment, it looked like Jojo was going to drown. But then something amazing happened.

A visitor to the park, Rick Swope, leaped into the water and swam to the chimp. He grabbed ahold of Jojo and started wading back to shore. The man was amazed at how heavy the animal was, but that didn’t stop him.

Animal Planet/YouTube Source: Animal Planet/YouTube

Rick soon reached the island where the rest of the chimps lived and set Jojo back down onto dry land.

But Jojo was unconscious, and Rick struggled to keep the animal on the dry land. Jojo just kept on slipping back into the water.

Animal Planet/YouTube Source: Animal Planet/YouTube

So Rick held onto Jojo until the animal could regain consciousness and clamber to safety. Rick then had to retreat swiftly, the other chimpanzees were starting to approach and had mistook Rick’s actions as being violent towards Jojo.

Rick swam back to the human side of the zoo, with the people cheering him on.

Luckily, someone was filming the entire thing. The footage later became a segment on Animal Planet, which was then uploaded onto YouTube. The clip has since gone viral. To date, it has received over 6.4 million views, 1,900 likes and 500 comments. People have been saying things like this:

Animal Planet/YouTube Source: Animal Planet/YouTube

Rick Swope is truly a hero, but apparently, he put himself in real danger when he rescued that chimp.

Chimps can be some of the most dangerous animals for a human to come into contact with. They are highly territorial and willing to attack people whom they regard as a threat to their environment. They are also seven times stronger than the average human.

However, because chimps are so strong, they are not able to swim. They have too little fat to make their bodies buoyant.

Animal Planet/YouTube Source: Animal Planet/YouTube

But brave people like Rick Swope disregard the dangers to help animals in need. He could tell that an intelligent life was in danger, so he put his own worries aside. His actions are certainly not encouraged, but thanks to Rick, Jojo is still alive and well to this day.

Rick also has some serious bragging rights after this. He did something that none of the zoo workers were willing to do, and he lived to tell the tale. His kids must be so proud of him!

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Source: Animal Planet

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