Five animals obtained out of their enclosures on the Chimpanzee House at Furuvik Zoo on Thursday, prompting an emergency response. A fourth primate was shot and injured, and has reportedly returned to its enclosure by itself.
An announcement from the zoo mentioned it warned workers to get to security because it organised for a crew of shooters to circle the realm.
“During the day, unfortunately, three chimpanzees had to be euthanised for safety reasons.
“The evening has been quiet. Our emergency crew is guarding the chimpanzee home, the place the 4 remaining chimpanzees reside. They are in the home, however not confined of their enclosure. This implies that we can’t but enable individuals to maneuver freely within the park and we’re nonetheless on full alert.”
The zoo said it did not know how the chimpanzees had escaped and it would begin an investigation as soon as possible.
The zoo has been unable to confirm which animals were euthanised because keepers have not yet been able to safely enter the Chimpanzee House.
Local media reported the animals were killed because there was not enough tranquiliser available at the zoo, located about 165 kilometres north of Stockholm.
“This is a particularly tragic state of affairs for all concerned, each animals and other people. Our ideas exit to all staff, our animals and everybody who cares for our animals. The grief is extraordinarily heavy,” a statement from the zoo said.
How strong is a chimpanzee?
Chimpanzees are notoriously powerful animals and there are several recorded attacks on humans.
The study says chimps have about twice the amount of “fast-twitch” muscle fibres as people, and were generally about 1.5 times stronger.
But the report did say the perception of the primates having “tremendous human power” was perhaps slightly overstated and was based on research from the 1920s.
However, their power displayed in multiple recorded attacks on people cannot be questioned.
In 2009, a pet chimp in the US named Travis attacked its owner’s friend, Charla Nash.
Several different pet chimpanzees have additionally attacked and severely mutilated people.
