KANSAS CITY, MO (WDAF/CNN) - A violent exchange in a chimpanzee exhibit has left an animal dead.
"I heard the chimps making a racket even before I got near to the enclosure," said witness Harold Miller, a zoo regular.
Miller said he`s spent many mornings walking to the three-acre chimpanzee habitat.
Thursday morning he didn`t realize he was about to watch Bahati, a 31-year-old chimpanzee, fall about 40 feet to his death.
Miller pulled out his camera phone to capture what happened next. Voices he captured are children asking their mom what`s happening.
Operations Director Sean Putney said chimps fight from time to time to establish dominance but the day's aggression level was unexpected.
"It was obvious there was a lot more screaming this morning," Putney said. "Our staff went out to investigate and obviously saw that one of our chimpanzees Bahati was being chased."
Several chimps raced up one of the trees and it looked like they were fighting and squabbling back and forth.
Putney said the chimp climbed onto a branch that couldn`t support its weight.
He ended up falling and getting some pretty severe internal injuries.
The zoo staff says they`re hurting over Bahati`s death and they`re sorry people saw the fall.
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