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Urban explorers captured footage of eight gorillas still in their enclosure at Bristol Zoo – three years after shutting its doors to the pubic.

The footage shared on social media shows one of the gorillas tapping on the glass window, looking ‘miserable’, the urban explorer claimed.

Bristol Zoological Society stepped up its security after there were several break-ins following its closure.

However, the urban explorer claimed they ‘walked straight through’ and said there was ‘no security’ at the zoo.

‘We spent an hour and a half in there and even came back two days later,’ they said.

Zookeepers at Bristol Zoo have responded to claims made by the explorer, which they claim spread misinformation about the gorillas.

In a video on social media, they explained that the animals remain in good care at their old enclosure before they are transferred to their African Forest habitat in the new Bristol Zoo Project in a few months.

‘How would you feel if in the workplace you came across four men in balaclavas? It’s incredibly threatening, and that’s what we’ve experienced here with trespassers on the site,’ the zookeeper said in a video posted to TikTok and Facebook.

The zookeepers also debunked claims the gorillas are ‘miserable’ and explained that the animals exhibit different facial expressions from humans.

‘It can be a misconception, that can be quite common, that gorillas look sad, but that’s just because they display completely different facial expressions than we do,’ she explained.

The video uploaded to social media by the urban explorer pans around the gorilla enclosure and zooms in on some of the troop sitting behind windows.

It was captioned: ‘Bristol zoo: what are you hiding? What is it you don’t want everyone to know?’ as the explorer aimed to share the video to raise awareness about the animals.

Animal welfare charity, Born Free, previously criticised Bristol Zoo for continuing to house the western lowland gorillas in captivity while the new enclosure remains unfinished.

Bristol Zoo said on its website the gorillas ‘remain cared for by the same team of keepers, and have exactly the same routine they had when the zoo was open to the public’.

It added that the animals used to have daily outside access both day and night, but this has since been restricted to daytime only because of the ‘risk that trespassers pose to them’.

The zoo has urged members of the public to ignore the claims made on social media and not to engage with the posts.

‘Please don’t share the fact-less videos on social media, this only encourages further break ins and endangers our troop of gorillas,’ it said.

Bristol Zoo fell victim to several break-ins and trespassers last year, which it said causes deep distress for the gorillas.

Brian Zimmerman, director of conservation and science at Bristol Zoological Society, previously said: ‘Since July 2024 our former Bristol Zoo Gardens site has been targeted by trespassers.

‘This has resulted in videos and misinformation being spread on social media. We take these incidents extremely seriously and the care and welfare of our animals is always our top priority.

‘Our heightened security has ensured recent trespassers haven’t been able to get near the gorillas, but each time it happens, and alarms are set off, it causes the troop distress.

‘It is frustrating for us to see these videos. The trespassers who broke into our site, put animals at risk and have no knowledge of animal care and welfare.’

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