A macaque which escaped from the Highland Wildlife Park has been captured after five days on the run.
The seven-year-old monkey escaped from the park on Sunday, and was later seen eating nuts from a bird feeder in nearby Kincaig.
The slippery simian was spotted near to the park on Tuesday, and was tracked via drone footage Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team on Wednesday.
Now the park has confirmed that the animal, named Honshu, has been captured.
We can confirm we have successfully caught the macaque that escaped from the park on Sunday named Honshu🐵👇 pic.twitter.com/2m4Bl7i0Mr
— Highland Wildlife Park (@HighlandWPark) February 1, 2024
They said: "After a call to our hotline just after 10am our keepers and drone team made their way to a member of the public’s garden where the monkey was eating from a birdfeeder and successfully used a tranquiliser dart to catch him.
"The monkey is on the way back to the park with our keepers where he will be looked over by one of our vet team and reintroduced to sub-adult males within the group. We want to thank everyone who has helped during the process and will continue to share any further updates."
The story has attracted attention throughout the world, with media reports on the saga in France, Spain and beyond.
The animals kept at the Highland Wildlife Park, which is part of Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, are part of the European endangered species programme.
Also known as snow monkeys, in the wild they are the most northerly living non-human primates and are the subject of the Three Wise Monkeys maxim 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil'.
They live in large social groups known as troops which have a strict dominance hierarchy.
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