Thanks for finding this, I tried Googling words I'd translated but didn't come up with anything. It is terrible, I'll be very interested to see what comes out of the enquiry. Moats are fraught with danger, I wonder if places where they've not had a fatality is down to luck or if there is something about the design that makes some less risky.
I reckon its purely down to luck: an accident just hasn't happened yet. The sad thing is that zoos continue to construct moated ape enclosures despite it being well-known that they are a recognised and entirely preventable cause of deaths in zoos. (I was going to write "a leading cause of deaths" but I don't know if that's true at all). My personal viewpoint is that while it is true that not every moated enclosure has had accidents, why deliberately put that risk into the equation when designing an enclosure?!
I think the 'looks good for the the visitors' arguement over-rides all other considerations. But accidents with Apes and moats have been happening for years. One of the first recorded and most famous incidents was at the Bronx Zoo. N.Y. in 1951, when the adult gorilla 'Makoko' tripped and fell into the moat on a Sunday afternoon in front of a capacity crowd. He sank like a stone and was dead when they pulled him out. There have been many similar incidents since, some not so well publicised, involving all three Great Ape species but still new enclosures, albeit with 'safety features' for the apes, follow this pattern more than any other.
Atleast here in NSW moated enclosures must be designed to specific standards to minimise the risks of an animal drowning. They dont just drop awayits kind of like a swimming pool to a point then it might drop away. the animal would have to intentionally leap as far out as possible to drown. atleast thats how its supposed to be.
Nowadays these moats are usually designed with a shallow drop or sloping shelf on the Apes' side, plus various safety handholds etc to minimise the risks, but I think they are still there.
