Efforts to trace a monkey that escaped from a wildlife park in the Highlands of Scotland have intensified after the primate was spotted by a member of the public after his second night of freedom.
Hopes had been raised on Monday night that the Japanese macaque, which jumped the perimeter fence of the enclosure he shares with more than 30 others on Sunday, had grown tired of his solo adventure.
He was spotted headed in the direction of the Highland wildlife park in Cairngorms, and local people – who were advised to report sightings to a dedicated monkey hotline – were being encouraged to remove potential food sources such as bins and garden bird nuts.
But the macaque headcount on Tuesday morning confirmed that one was still missing, and there has since been another sighting that a team from the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which runs the park, is responding to.
Keith Gilchrist, the living collections operations manager at Highland wildlife park, said: “Throughout the day our expert team of animal keepers will be patrolling the local area using a variety of techniques to try to coax him in, as well as using our thermal image drone contractor to aid with the search. Cairngorms mountain rescue has also kindly offered to support with their thermal imaging drone.”
By happy coincidence, the brother of the leader of the Cairngorm mountain rescue team is a renowned expert in macaque behaviour at Kyoto University.
Also known as snow monkeys, macaques are familiar with cold mountain habitats.
Carl Nagle, who lives in the nearby village of Kincraig, told BBC Scotland News that he was enjoying a “lazy Sunday morning” when he read the monkey alert on a local Facebook group.
A team of keepers are trying to recaputue that animal. Video by Carl Nagle pic.twitter.com/SeCypmAkmZ
— Dan Sanderson (@DSanderson_85) January 28, 2024
“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.
“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.”
One theory is that the monkey jumped the fence seeking respite from the tensions of breeding season – there are two dominant males in the park’s macaque group and their awol counterpart is younger and less confident.
Though the missing macaque is not thought to pose a threat to humans or pets, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland has advised the public to not approach him and contact the hotline on 079339 28377 with any sightings.
