The Japanese macaque broke free from its enclosure at Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie on Sunday, and a team is attempting to find and capture it.
By James Robinson, News reporter @thejournojames
A thermal imaging drone is being used in the search for a monkey after it broke loose from a wildlife park in Scotland.
The Japanese macaque broke free from its enclosure at Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie on Sunday.
The monkey was later spotted sitting on a garden fence and taking nuts from a bird feeder in the nearby village of Kincraig.
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), which runs the park, has assembled a team to find and capture the missing macaque.
Keith Gilchrist, living collections operations manager at the wildlife park, said Cairngorms Mountain Rescue had “kindly offered to support” the search with their thermal imaging drone.
He also said the search team is responding to a sighting made on Tuesday morning.
“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,” he said.
People in the area are being urged to bring in any food that is stored outside to encourage the monkey to return to the park when it is hungry, and have been advised not to approach the animal.
Though the macaque is not presumed dangerous to humans or pets, experts have advised people not to approach the monkey and instead contact the RZSS’s hotline on 07933 928 377 with any sightings.
Carl Nagle, 49, and his partner Tiina Salzberg, 50, saw the monkey from their patio doors in Kincraig near Kingussie on Sunday morning.
Speaking to Sky News on the UK Tonight with Sarah Jane Mee, Mr Nagle said: “I was woken by a telephone call by my daughter telling me there: ‘Dad, there’s a monkey on your street’.
“Apparently a video had been posted on Facebook in a neighbouring garden the macaque and I thought what were the chances of it being in our garden.
“So I got up, went to my patio door, and there I was in my dressing gown with a primate in my garden.”
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He added: “He [the monkey] was and probably is still living his best life. He had a plentiful supply of food from my feeders and probably many more in the neighbours.
“We’ve all been asked to take them in now.”
Japanese macaques, also known as the snow monkey, are the most northerly living non-human primate, according to the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
It notes on its website that there is “a large group” of 34 primates at Highland Wildlife Park and it has had “great success” breeding the species.
