Was a Zookeeper Arrested for Molesting a Gorilla?

In late November 2017, several unreliable web sites published identical articles reporting that a zookeeper at the San Diego Zoo had been arrested and charged with sexual assault on a

15-year-old male gorilla.

The story appears to have originated on World News Daily Report, which describes its content as "satirical," and virtually everything on the web site is fiction:

All characters appearing in the articles in this website -- even those based on real people -- are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any persons, living, dead, or

undead is purely a miracle.

Bestiality appears to be a favorite theme of the WNDR staff, whose previous articles include fabricated reports of humans sexually assaulting octopuses, alligators, and orangutans. Although

some might find them repetitive and unfunny, these lurid stories presumably serve their commercial purpose of attracting clicks and earning advertising dollars.

Parenthetically, the mugshot used in the WNDR article was a purposely distorted image of a black male that has been used on racist websites for years to insult and demean people of color.

David Emery is a West Coast-based writer and editor with 25 years of experience fact-checking rumors, hoaxes, and contemporary legends.