Escaped zoo monkey waits in front of door to get back in
Published: June 21, 2005
The golden-bellied mangabey, called Takala, was returned to his home within an hour without incident.
A security guard first saw the young male – about the size of a cocker spaniel – in a ficus tree that towers over the $28.5 million Monkey Trails exhibit about 5:45 p.m.
The monkey’s escape route: a hole in the netting that encloses the top of the exhibit, which opened June 3.
The zoo doesn’t know if the monkey made the hole, but it was close to one of the trees that sticks through the netting, zoo spokeswoman Christina Simmons said.
About 45 minutes later, zookeepers found the mangabey waiting outside a door to the exhibit. They opened the door, and Takala went inside, Simmons said.
“When we build a natural habitat, animals behave naturally. They sometimes surprise us and do things we don’t expect them to do,” Simmons said.
The mangabey exhibit will be closed today so zookeepers can repair the netting.
The escape didn’t force the zoo to close because it was almost 6 p.m., the usual time for visitors to leave. A gala fundraising party last night also went off without trouble.
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Summer of the MonkeysThe last zoo animal to escape was a Francois’ langur monkey in December. The endangered monkey was found in a tree at nearby Theodore Roosevelt Junior High School and was captured an hour later.
Apparently zoo monkeys are quite content with their living quaters. Earlier this month an escaped monkey in the UK was found waiting patiently at a picnic bench next to the giraffe paddock.
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