More than 25 years have passed since, but it remains an important example of great human bravery and compassion.
In 1990, a chimpanzee at the Detroit Zoo fell into the water after being chased by another chimpanzee, so Rick Swope, a zoo patron, jumped into the ape enclosure to save him, ignoring the threat of other more aggressive apes.
“Everyone in the whole place was just standing around watching this monkey drown,” Swope told the Deseret News. “When he went down the second time I knew I had to do something.”
You can watch how the dramatic event unfolded in the video below…
