Runaway monkey on the loose in Highlands village
A MONKEY is on the loose in a village in the Scottish Highlands after escaping from a wildlife park.
The Japanese macaque escaped from its enclosure at the Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie yesterday, with the alarm raised after locals in a nearby village spotted it snacking on a bird feeder.
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) said it has assembled a team to recapture the monkey.
Members of the public have been urged not to approach the animal, and instead contact the zoological society with information. Darren Mcgarry, the head of living collections at RZSS, said: “We can confirm one of our Japanese macaques escaped from its enclosure this morning.
“Our charity has set up a team that is working to secure the monkey safely and as quickly as possible.”
Locals in Kincraig, near Aviemore, were shocked as they saw the Japanese macaque walking around the village at about 11am yesterday morning.
Carl Nagle, 49, filmed the monkey in his garden after his daughter, Gabriella, disturbed his Sunday lie-in by calling him to tell him about a Facebook post from a neighbour documenting the primate.
He said the monkey, which disappeared into the trees once keepers from the wildlife park arrived, had travelled between two to three miles to reach his home in Kincraig.
“My daughter told me there was a monkey on my street, someone had posted a video of it,” he said.
“I said ‘that’s insane’ and we joked about it, saying it would be funny if it was in our garden.
“But I got out of bed, opened the patio door, and there he was sitting off the fence, picking up some nuts from the bird feeder. He looked pretty happy. [The] keepers said it’s really unusual for them to venture so far from the park.”