02 February 2024 , 15:10
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An escaped macaque who survived alone and at large in the Scottish Highlands is "doing really well" after having eaten "quite a lot of peanuts", zookeepers have said.
Honshu the Japanese macaque spent five days roaming the freezing wild after escaping his enclosure at the Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie in the Cairngorms on Sunday. He was caught by keepers on Thursday after he was spotted snacking at a bird feeder in resident Stephanie Banyan's garden, and was reportedly lured back into captivity using a Yorkshire pudding.
Bosses at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) said Honshu had now been returned to the zoo and was soon to be reintegrated with his monkey pals. David Field, chief executive of RZSS, 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.”
Resident Stephanie Banyan at home in Insh where she found the escaped Japanese macaque (Stuart Wallace/REX/Shutterstock)After Honshu was spotted in the garden just under a mile-and-a-half from the park on Thursday morning, keepers used a tranquilliser dart to catch him. It is thought the monkey, nicknamed Kingussie Kong by locals, may have been tempted by the Sunday roast delicacy which had been left on the bird table overnight and was all gone in the morning, according to reports.
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A drone was used in the search earlier in the week and experts were able to follow the monkey for 45 minutes on Tuesday using the device, though were not able to retrieve him that day. The furthest known sighting of him was four miles from the park. The Japanese macaque, also known as the snow monkey, is the most northerly living non-human primate, according to park operators the RZSS.