Richard Smart in Tokyo
A chimpanzee embarked on a daring escape from a zoo in northern Japan, climbing a tall electricity pole before being hit with a sedative arrow and plunging from the wires into a blanket held by a dozen workers.\
Chacha, a male chimp, survived the fall with minor bruises
and cuts, a zoo official said on Friday. Japanese viewers were glued to
their screens on Thursday afternoon as Chacha evaded capture, swung from
power lines and scampered around in a state of agitation.
The chimpanzee was on the loose for nearly two hours after
it disappeared from the Yagiyama zoological park in Sendai, the city
that is hosting finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrialised
nations in May.
Electricity was lost in 1,848 homes for a brief period during the incident, according to Tohoku Electric Power Co.
A witness at the zoo told local media the chimp had managed
to climb over the wall of its enclosure before darting up a telephone
pole and making a getaway on power lines. The primate managed to get 250
metres from the zoo before his great escape was brought to an end.
TV footage showed Chacha perched atop a pole, agitated and
screaming at zoo workers below. A worker in a cherry picker then shot
the chimpanzee in the back with the arrow, sending it scampering along
the wires.
Chacha pulled out the arrow but, dangling from an electric
line, appeared to lose its grip as the sedative took effect, and
suddenly fell head down into the blanket. On the way down, Chacha struck
another wire before being awkwardly caught by authorities.
At 24, or middle age in human terms, the chimpanzee would be
slow for a few days as it recovered from the sedative, zoo official
Takashi Ito said.
Japanese viewers got to witness the entire escape just over
three weeks after a similar live television animal breakout in Gifu
prefecture. On 23 March, a zebra rampaged around a golf course chased by
portly police officers after breaking out of a horse riding farm. That
escape, however, ended in tragedy when the animal fell into the water
and drowned after being hit by a tranquiliser dart.
Yagiyama zoo was closed on Friday as officials investigated
how it escaped. Zoo officials have spotted a hole in the fence, through
which the chimpanzee apparently made his breakout.
The zoo was closed Friday as officials investigated how it
escaped. Zoo officials have spotted a hole in the fence, through which
the chimpanzee apparently made his breakout.
* This article has been amended. Chimpanzees are anthropoid apes, not monkeys.
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