A Chimpanzee Went On A High-Rise, Power-Line Climbing Adventure After Escaping From A Zoo In Japan

A chimpanzee from a zoo in Japan went full-on “monkey on the lam” Thursday after escaping to a nearby residential area. Staff at the Sendai zoo noticed that the chimp, named Chacha — one of five chimpanzees in his enclosure — had gone missing around 1:20 p.m. and the zoo was closed shortly after as a precaution. Chacha was quickly located running around power lines in the neighboring area outside the zoo. Getting him down, however, proved to be an entirely separate matter, as you can see in the above image, Chacha wasn’t exactly about to give up his taste of freedom so soon.

After a nearly two-hour chase by police and zoo officials, Chacha was finally shot with a tranquilizer dart and caught in a net around 3:10 p.m., although there’s no word of his condition following his apprehension. Suffice to say, his escape provided quite a bit of excitement, especially for students at a nearby elementary school who were held inside due to the errant chimp running rampant in the neighborhood.

“When I saw (the chimpanzee) on television, it was quite big, so we thought it was dangerous to let the children out,” school Vice Principal Takashi Yamaguchi said, adding he was relieved the ape was caught.

Here are some more incredible photos and videos taken of Chacha’s escape and subsequent capture:

(Via ABC News, Japan Times)

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