A monkey escaped its enclosure in a Scottish wildlife park run by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) Sunday, the BBC reported.
The monkey, a Japanese macaque, was first spotted after its escape in the gardens of a nearby village, the BBC noted. (RELATED: Lincolnshire Wildlife Park Tries Risky New Strategy To Make Parrots Stop Cursing)
Carl Nagle, a resident of the village, told the BBC that he saw the monkey after peering out a window on a “lazy Sunday afternoon.”
“I looked out the window and there he was, proud as punch, standing against the fence eating nuts that had fallen down from one of the bird feeders,” Nagle recalled. “He hung out, he looked a bit shifty like he was where he wasn’t supposed to be, which was true. He wandered around the garden a bit — we thought he’d gone but he came back and then he was up on the bird feeders trying to get into them. He was having a really good go — he worked harder at it than a squirrel.”
Escaped monkey on the loose in Highland village https://t.co/2rpRXnBUyW
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) January 28, 2024
The RZSS confirmed the breakout Monday in a press statement and urged the public to call or email them but not to approach the animal.
“A team of our charity’s expert keepers are patrolling the village today in order to locate and return the macaque that escaped yesterday … Although we don’t expect the monkey to be a threat to the public or pet animals, he should not be approached,” Darren McGarry, the head of living collections at RZSS, said in the press statement.
“We are doing everything we can to locate the macaque and are in talks with a drone company to help in this process. Locals are being encouraged to bring in any food that is kept outside, such as food waste bins and bird feeders to encourage the monkey to return to the park once he is hungry,” McGarry added.
The monkey is still on the lam after 24 hours, according to the Press & Journal.