He jumped 20 feet into a gorilla enclosure at Jersey Zoo in 1986 to save a 5-year-old boy who had fallen unconscious, then paramedic Brian Fox treated the injured child with a massive silverback only feet away, as stunned visitors watched from above

Thirty years after one of the most extraordinary rescues at Jersey Zoo, paramedic Brian Fox looked back on the moment he climbed into a gorilla enclosure to treat a critically injured five-year-old boy. It was August 31, 1986. Levan Merritt had fallen into the enclosure and was lying injured on the ground. Above him, dozens of visitors watched in panic as a huge silverback gorilla named Jambo approached the child. Fox knew he had to get inside.

But the rescue was not simply about reaching an injured boy. He was entering an enclosure containing several gorillas.

The moment Fox decided to jump in

Levan had suffered a fractured skull, with protruding bones, after the fall. Fox later explained that the potential damage to the boy's skull was the most serious concern. Speaking to the BBC in 2016, 30 years after the incident, Fox recalled the moment that made him decide to enter the enclosure. He said he made the decision when the "boy turned on his back and went unconscious".

For Fox, there was no dramatic calculation about becoming part of an international news story. He simply had a badly injured child who needed medical attention.

Looking back three decades later, he described his actions remarkably simply. It was "part of the job", he said, so he "got on with it".

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Jambo was already beside the unconscious child

By the time Fox entered, Jambo had become the center of the unfolding drama. The enormous silverback approached Levan and remained over the boy, while keeping the other animals from coming close.

That behavior gave the rescuers an unusual window in which to reach the child. Fox remembered that the keepers were simultaneously dealing with another gorilla while he treated Levan.

He said, "The keepers were keeping another gorilla at bay so I could treat the boy."

Fox was therefore not alone inside the enclosure. Andy Wood, who was second-in-charge of the apes, first entered to protect him, followed by bird keeper Gary Clarke.

Richard Johnston-Scott, who had worked with the apes for years, later described both men as "incredibly brave".

The silverback did not attack

The presence of Jambo had terrified the people watching from outside. Yet the gorilla's behavior was strikingly calm. According to Johnston-Scott, Jambo simply remained beside the boy despite the shouting and commotion around him.

He said: "Jambo looked up as if he was saying 'why are you making so much noise'." Johnston-Scott had worked with Jambo for almost seven years and believed the child was never in danger from the gorillas.

He said: "[I'd] worked with him for the best part of seven years, I got to known him really well. I don't think that child was in any danger from the gorillas."

That assessment offers an important perspective on the rescue. While the scene looked terrifying to the visitors watching from above, the keepers understood Jambo and the other gorillas far better than the crowd did.

Fox treated the boy and the rescuers got him out

Once Fox could safely reach Levan, the priority was treating the injured child. The boy was eventually removed from the enclosure and flown to Southampton hospital. He had suffered a fractured skull and other serious injuries, but ultimately made a full recovery.

For Fox, however, the most remarkable part of the story was not the global attention that followed. It was simply a rescue that had to be carried out.