A typical zoo homes animals of different types of species, up from flying animals, to land animals, and down to sea animals.

Usually, a zoo is a go-to place for families and friends who want nothing but amusement by having a quick and close glimpse of animals.

However, that wasn’t the case in this zoo in San Diego, California.

A life and death situation.

Ten months ago, a cellphone video captured a heart-stopping moment that would push you to the edge of your seat.

What’s believed to be a stray dog had accidentally entered an enclosure that’s packed with humongous silver-back gorillas.

From afar, the dog can be seen running for its life as a group of silver-back gorillas, led by a gorilla named Franklin, chases after him.

Although the dog was definitely not a threat to them, the leader of the troop didn’t let the unwanted visitor get an inch closer to his family.

Thankfully, the gorillas stopped chasing the frightened dog when they realized it meant no harm.

Are gorillas really dangerous?

In movies and other shows, gorillas are often depicted as dangerous and aggressive large mammals.

But in reality, gorillas are in fact, gentle giants.

The truth is that gorillas are shy type of animals and retiring by nature. Usually, they will only become aggressive if they feel threatened by someone or something.

Gorillas are also non-territorial and usually live in groups called troops. A troop generally consists of 1 to 4 adult males (called silverbacks), some juvenile males (called black backs), several adult females, and young.

In this case, the leader of the troop was just being a little protective of his family that’s why he decided to chase after the wandering dog inside their enclosure.

Getting the dog out of any possible danger.

Officers from the San Diego County Humane Society quickly jumped into action and they managed to immediately bring the dog out of the gorilla enclosure.

“When I showed up in the gorilla enclosure, he did look very nervous [and] afraid,” Samantha Clark, the San Diego County Humane Society officer, shared. “The dog probably felt he was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Shortly after the rescue, they brought the dog to the Humane Society office to see if it’s microchipped but turned out it wasn’t.

They eventually named the dog “Mighty Joe Young” who was unharmed during the heart-stopping incident.

He only had ticks which are common in stray dogs, the vaccinated Mighty Joe Young and provided him with flea medicine.

Currently, they are in search of the dog’s real owner, but in the meantime, Mighty Joe Young is staying at the Humane Society office in Escondido.

It is not every day that you get to see something like this.

The news about Mighty Joe Young spread like wildfire and as of this writing, the video of the incident has already amassed over 2 million views.

The majority of the viewers were happy nobody was harmed during the incident.

“I’m glad that the dog was rescued safely and hope he will definitely be adopted after this news story. Also very relieved to hear that the gorillas also weren’t harmed and there was no altercations between these species,” a viewer wrote in the comment section.

While another one commented:

“Glad the pup is ok and good to see the gorilla family can depend on papa gorilla to protect them – even if it’s just from a harmless pup.”

Watch the video below to know more about this story.

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Source: Shareably – Animal Channel, YouTube – KTLA 5