The escape journey of seven chimpanzees, which started on Wednesday in Gävle’s Furuviksparken zoo, came to an end on Saturday. The three surviving chimpanzees have been returned to their enclosure.
In Sweden, people now have four names: Santino, Linda, Torsten and Manda. The four chimpanzees in question were shot in Furuviksparken zoo’s monkey escape, which came to an end on Saturday.
The three surviving chimpanzees have been returned to their enclosures and are in good condition, except for the wounded Selma. The atmosphere cannot be described as triumphant, says Sveriges Radio Finska’s regional reporter for Gävleborg county Minna Pyykölä.
– Today we are talking about how monkeys have been murdered, and this cannot be forgiven. Many say they will never visit Furuviksparken again and demand the zoo’s management resign, Pyykölä says.
On Wednesday, all seven chimpanzees at the zoo escaped from their enclosure by unknown means.
Three of the monkeys were shot shortly after escaping.
At first, the zoo announced that the shooting was decided because there was too little anesthetic. However, this announcement was retracted and the zoo cited the danger to humans.
According to Sveriges Radio (you will switch to another service) the monkeys were coming out of the windows of the monkey house when the decision to shoot was made.
The shot chimpanzees were semi-celebrities familiar to Swedes from television. The oldest of them, Santino, was famous for his stoning attacks on visitors, which were even as an object of scientific research (you will switch to another service).
Santino, calmed down after the castration, took up painting, and allegedly the crown princess Victoria too owns the works of a chimpanzee.
– They were familiar to many Swedes from decades ago, they were referred to by their first name and they came to see them in the summer, Pyykölä says.
Furuviksparken has apologized for its failure and the events are going to be investigated.
Korkeasaari manager: Our monkeys avoid water, they would hardly swim to Helsinki
CEO of Korkeasaari Sanna Hellström waiting for reports from Furuviksparken to assess whether there could be a risk of monkey escape in Korkeasaari. The zoo has, among other things, Barbary monkeys.
– However, we are located on an island that can be closed off, and monkeys avoid water, so they would hardly leave us to swim in Helsinki.
It is difficult for Hellström to assess whether shooting the Swedish chimpanzees was the right decision.
– A risk assessment has been made in the situation and acted upon. When using anesthetic arrows, you must be close to the animals without obstacles. The anesthetic does not take effect immediately, which must be taken into account for people in immediate danger.