Zoo officials said Koga, a 24-year-old silverback gorilla, took advantage of an unlocked door in his living quarters yesterday morning and slipped into the space behind it, used by zoo personnel but closed to the public.
A keeper who has cared for Koga since he arrived in 2007 was bitten on her hand and calf, in what officials said was an act of excitement rather than aggression.
"He was probably just as surprised coming face to face with her as she was with him," Buffalo Zoo President Donna Fernandes said.
The keeper, whose name was not released, took refuge inside the habitat of a female gorilla and her newborn baby, Ms Fernandes said.
Meanwhile, police sent in the SWAT team to secure the area while a veterinarian used a handheld blow pipe to sedate Koga through a porthole.
Visitors to the zoo were moved indoors and stayed there throughout the roughly 45-minute ordeal - the zoo's first escape, Ms Fernandes said.
"That was the scariest thing I've ever done in my career," said SWAT team captain Mark Maraschiello.
"It's a 400 pound animal that's capable of who knows what. He could rip your arm out of its socket," Mr Maraschiello said.
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