STOCKHOLM (AP) – Officials at a Swedish zoo have managed to safely bring back three chimpanzees that escaped their enclosure, but four others were shot.
Furuvik Zoo said in a statement on Saturday that the surviving animals are now being cared for and that those injured are receiving veterinary care.
The monkeys had fled on Wednesday, some of them from the monkey house where they lived. The officers were forced to shoot him because of the danger he posed to the public. Two were shot on the grounds of the zoo and one was confirmed dead inside the monkey house. When keepers finally got inside on Saturday, they found the carcass of a fourth chimp.
“What happened is a great tragedy and a great failure on our part,” the zoo said in a statement on Facebook.
“We all feel very sad about what happened and mourn our beloved chimpanzees Linda, Torsten, Santino and Manda. … We are very anxious to get to the bottom of how this could have happened and investigation may reveal where we (failed) or if we could have acted differently.
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The zoo identified the surviving chimpanzees as Selma, Maria-Magdalena and Tojobe, and said Selma was being treated for injuries.
Furuvik Zoo is located near Gävle, 165 kilometers (100 mi) north of Stockholm. It is part of an amusement park. According to the park’s website, it is also the only primate research station in the Nordic countries.
It is not the first time in recent months that animals have escaped from a Swedish zoo. In October, a venomous king cobra escaped from its terrarium at a zoo in Sweden, but returned to its own accord after a week.
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