Oologah Residents Leap To Defense Of Gorilla

"The kids call it ‘Gorilla Park,' they don't call it the Oologah Town Park," said Faith Wiley, from the Oologah Lake Leader newspaper.

Thursday, February 7th 2013, 6:06 pm

By: News On 6


The mere suggestion of removing a big piece of a park in Oologah stirred up a Facebook firestorm this week.

At the town board meeting this week, members approved funding to clean up the park - adding new picnic tables, removing trash - and someone at the meeting suggested they also get rid of the big ugly gorilla the kids like to play on.

"The kids call it ‘Gorilla Park,' they don't call it the Oologah Town Park," said Faith Wiley, from the Oologah Lake Leader newspaper.

When the newspaper posted the story on its Facebook page and asked for comments, their readers made it clear the gorilla was going nowhere. The post has gotten more than 300 comments, so far, and all but four are in favor of the primate.

The gorilla was placed in the park in 1974, so generations of Oologah's kids have loved climbing on it, and they don't want anyone messing with it.

"Over 3,000 people have read the story," Wiley said. That's in a town with a population of about 1,200.

We contacted Oologah Mayor Jerry Holland, who said, based on the comments so far, the kids can relax. The gorilla's not going anywhere.

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