When most of us wake up in the morning, we don’t really expect to do something that is completely out of the ordinary. In fact, we likely do things that are on the plan that we have come up with for the day or we simply go about our daily routine without really giving it all that much thought. That is also the case for many people on one particular day when they were visiting the Detroit Zoo.
Admittedly, we may not go to the zoo regularly and it is something that is typically planned because we want to make sure that we get as much out of it while we are visiting. For a man named Rick Slope, the day was going on fairly normally and he was standing near the chimpanzee exhibit. Two of the chimps were playing in the exhibit and chasing each other but then something completely unexpected happened. As it turns out, Rick stepped up to the plate and did the right thing rather than standing by and watching the wrong thing happen.
The chimps were chasing each other around the trees and one slipped on the edge and fell into the water that surrounded the exhibit. The chimpanzee was having a real struggle to keep its head above water but the zoo staff was not about ready to come near and attempt to rescue.
Rick talked to a local newspaper about the situation. He said:
“It was the most pitiful thing I ever saw. This chimp had his hands up and his head was sticking out of the water. He was looking at the crowd. It was like he wanted someone to rescue him.”
When he saw that nobody else was going to take action, Rick decided to do the right thing.
Rick jumped over the wall and right into the water. It was almost impossible to locate the chimpanzee because the water was murky.
He further discussed the situation with the local paper:
“People were showing me which direction he was in. The water was so dirty you couldn’t see through it. I swam around on the bottom. Finally I found him…
He was pretty lifeless, but you could see he was still alive. He was looking at me. I think he knew what was going on… The monkey never made any attempt to do anything to me.
Then I looked up and saw there was another one coming down the hill with his teeth bared. I didn’t know if he was going after the other monkey or after me, but I got the hell out of there.”
As Rick was leaving the enclosure, people surrounded him to congratulate him. The fact of the matter was, Rick didn’t do it because he wanted attention. He just didn’t want to see an innocent animal die in front of him.
You can watch the historic and heroic rescue in this video: