Great escape

To lose one animal may be a misfortune, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde. To lose two is beginning to look somewhat careless – even if, in the case of Belfast Zoo, stormy weather was responsible for the Great Ape Escape at the weekend. A few weeks ago, a red panda cub was found in a garden a mile from the zoo, after making a break for freedom. This time, several chimps formed a makeshift ladder from branches knocked down by Storm Erik to scale the wall of their enclosure, with one ending up alongside visitors on a public path. In a film of the episode, a little girl can be heard remonstrating with the primate: “Don’t escape, you bad little gorilla.” Fortunately for her, it wasn’t either – bad or a gorilla.