stedenmi/iStock(TAMPA) — A zookeeper at a Florida zoo has been hospitalized after he was “nipped” by an orangutan Wednesday morning.
The worker, a member of ZooTampa’s animal care staff, was giving the female orangutan its daily medication and vitamins when the primate “nipped the tip of the keeper’s middle finger,” according to a statement released by the zoo.
The incident occurred in the night house shortly before 9 a.m., before the zoo was opened to visitors. The zoo described the orangutan, who was not injured, as “not aggressive.”
The keeper was taken to the hospital for treatment.
“The staff member appears to be doing well and recovering from his wound,” the statement read.
Additional details were not immediately available.
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