A Highland monkey on the run for five days was finally captured after being tempted by a Yorkshire pudding.
The Japanese macaque, called Honshu, escaped from the Highland Wildlife Park on Sunday, prompting a widescale search in the Kincraig area that has captured worldwide attention.
Teams have been scouring the countryside over the last five days eager to capture the seven-year-old snow monkey, using drone and thermal imaging cameras to increase their chances.
Shortly before 11am today, the search team struck lucky when Stephanie Bunyan from Insh discovered the primate in her back garden.
Escaped monkey was ‘running all over the roof’
She was enjoying her morning coffee in her summer room when she spotted the snow monkey peering in the window.
Shocked by his presence, Mrs Bunyan and her husband Howard watched as he ran across their roof while searchers raced to the scene.
Speaking to The Press and Journal, Mrs Bunyan said she had to do a “double take” to be sure what she was seeing.
“I often get the odd pheasant looking into the window, so I did a double take as I knew something was there – and it was him looking in the window at me,” she explained.
“He hopped along the wall outside up onto our barbeque that’s under the window, looked in our bay window and hopped up onto the roof.
“We were trying to get him into a position where he couldn’t run so far.
“Eventually, it worked. There is a valley gutter and he soon learnt that if he got there we couldn’t reach him.
“It was lovely as we have only ever seen them at the wildlife park. He was a little bit wary but he wasn’t scared.”
When asked why they thought the monkey had turned up in their garden, Mr Bunyan said it might have had something to do with the tasty treats they had left out in the garden – including a Yorkshire pudding.
“Stephanie had put out last night a cold Yorkshire pudding and that was all gone this morning,” said.
“He did leave us a little present, so has certainly been eating.”
Escaped monkey found to be in good shape
Within moments, keepers arrived at the couple’s home, using their drone to pinpoint his location.
It’s understood the team had to dart the monkey twice after Honshu pulled the first one out and threw it away.
He was then transported back to the park’s medical centre where he has since undergone a full medical examination under the watchful eye of vet Rebecca Amos.
Speaking just a few hours after his capture, she said apart from a superficial injury caused by the dart he was in “fantastic shape.”
“He seems to have suffered no ill effects. He is actually in fantastic shape,” she said.
“He’s in the recovery pen but he is moving and he is conscious. He looked a little discombobulated to be back in the cage but he has responded remarkably well, all things considered, because he covered some ground.
“He has a small wound on his arm from where the dart was. That has been cleaned and stitched up and we have painted his fingernails, which is something we do to distract monkeys from picking at their wounds.”
In the hours that followed, keepers have been feeding the primate his regular diet of chopped veg and monkey nuts.
However, Rebecca acknowledged he may not be hungry after munching on peanuts from countless bird feeders in the community.
Honshu will continue to be monitored overnight before being reintegrated with a handful of monkeys from the troop before being returned to the main enclosure in the coming days.
Team work helped bring escaped monkey home to Highland Wildlife Park
Keith Gilchrist, living collections operations manager, spoke of his relief to have Honshu back, marking the end of a hectic five-day search.
He said: “It was a really good positive outcome all round.
“We got a call on our hotline shortly after 10am this morning with a positive sighting of the macaque in someone’s back garden.
“We sent out our drone team and our keeper catcher team and we were able to find him with the drone, keep our eyes on him while the keepers worked their way towards him and got a dart into him.
“He did take off with that dart but we were able to follow him with the drone and luckily he never left the keeper’s line of sight anyway.
“The team have been fantastic.”
Park officials have now launched a review into security around the macaque enclosure.
New measures were introduced recently, however, Keith confirmed staff will be looking closely at what else can be done to prevent another occurrence.
Search for escaped monkey was a real community effort
Following an initial sighting on Sunday morning, a monkey hotline was established to collate reported sightings, while drone operators from BH Wildlife Consultancy and Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team searched for heat using thermal imaging technology.
Video footage led keepers to believe the monkey was making haste back towards the park, following sightings near the entrance earlier this week.
Ranger Stuart Owen said this is a common trait for snow monkeys.
He explained: “As a social species, it is their instinct to want to stay close to home, the term for that is ‘Natal philopatry’. They are faithful to the place they were born and the monkeys they were raised by.”
He said the experience has been a wild ride for everyone at the park and especially for him, with news of the monkey’s escape reaching as far as Australia.
He added: “It’s a real relief to have this outcome. It’s nice that he came back home and it has just been an incredibly wild journey for us.
“A big shout-out to Kincraig especially for keeping us so well informed of the monkey’s movements.
“We couldn’t have done it without their help. They have been really good about phoning in positive sightings that we have been able to act on.
“It shows how collaboratively humanity can really work quite well and efficiently together. This morning was the perfect example of that.”
Conversation