Chimps use branch as ladder to escape from Belfast zoo enclosure
- A zookeeper said trees in the enclosure were weakened by recent storms, allowing the chimpanzees to break them and craft their route out
Chimpanzees have used a branch to escape from their enclosure at Belfast zoo in the second breach by animals in recent weeks.
They took advantage of damage caused by stormy weather to stage a breakout that shocked visitors caught on their mobile phones.
The escape came just weeks after a red panda cub called Amber escaped from its enclosure and was found in a garden less than a mile from the zoo.
The latest bid for freedom was made by chimps who used the branch as a makeshift ladder and scaled the walls surrounding their pen on Saturday.
Visitors described seeing one of the escapees emerge from the bushes onto a path while others were sitting on top of their enclosure wall.
In footage posted on social media, a child can be heard exclaiming: “Don’t escape you bad little gorilla.”