Escaped Macaque

30/01/2024 in Highland Wildlife Park

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland can confirm a Japanese macaque escaped from its enclosure at Highland Wildlife Park on Sunday 28 January.

Friday 2 February

David Field, RZSS CEO, said, "Honshu has been carefully monitored by our vets and keepers and is doing really well. He doesn't seem to have lost any weight and has apparently consumed quite a lot of peanuts during the past five days! He will now slowly be reintroduced to other sub-adult males within the group.

“We want to say a huge thank you to the local community for their patience and cooperation throughout the past week, as well as our amazing staff at the park for their professionalism, patience and diligence.”

Thursday 1 February

Keith Gilchrist, living collections operations manager at Highland Wildlife Park said, “We can confirm we have successfully caught the macaque that escaped from the park on Sunday named Honshu. 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."

Thursday 1 February

Keith Gilchrist, living collections operations manager at Highland Wildlife Park, said, “Our teams are back out again today along with BH Wildlife Consultancy using the drone to try and locate the monkey.

“We’re continuing to ask locals to please bring any obvious potential food sources like bird feeders or food waste inside. Although the macaque is not presumed dangerous to humans or pets, our advice is to not approach him but to contact our hotline on 07933928377 with any sightings."

Wednesday 31 January

Keith Gilchrist, living collections operations manager at Highland Wildlife Park said, “After continued help from BH Wildlife Consultancy we were able to follow the macaque for 45 minutes yesterday using drones. Unfortunately, he wasn’t in a position where we were confident we could bring him in safely but he is making his way closer to the park. Our team will be out again today but given the high winds we won’t be able to fly the drones but will be using thermal imaging cameras.

“We’re continuing to ask locals to please bring any obvious potential food sources like bird feeders or food waste inside. Although the macaque is not presumed dangerous to humans or pets, our advice is to not approach him but to contact our hotline on 07933928377 with any sightings.”

Tuesday 30 January

Keith Gilchrist, living collections operations manager at Highland Wildlife Park said, “There has been a sighting of the macaque this morning, which we are currently responding to. Throughout the day our expert team of animal keepers will be patrolling the local area using a variety of techniques to try and 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.

“As with yesterday, we’re asking locals to please bring any obvious potential food sources like bird feeders or food waste inside, as we’re hopeful that the monkey will return to the park if he can’t find food elsewhere.

“Although the macaque is not presumed dangerous to humans or pets, our advice is to not approach him but to contact our hotline on 07933928377 with any sightings.”

Monday 29 January

Darren McGarry, head of living collections at RZSS said, “A team of our charity’s expert keepers are patrolling the village today in order to locate and return the macaque that escaped yesterday. We are asking anyone who spots him to please call 07933928377 or email comms@rzss.org.uk with information. Although we don’t expect the monkey to be a threat to the public or pet animals, he should not be approached.

“We are doing everything we can to locate the macaque and are in talks with a drone company to help in this process. Locals are being encouraged to bring in any food that is kept outside, such as food waste bins and bird feeders to encourage the monkey to return to the park once he is hungry.”

Images and video

Drone footage is available at -dropbox.com/scl/fo/yc3zr820a9s0bbxisgsw4/h?rlkey=85p8iagz6djvjm31ojksbipi2&dl=0

Credit: BH Wildlife Consultancy