Orangutan on the loose is just latest incident for plagued Toronto Zoo this summer
An orangutan briefly escaped its habitat at the Toronto Zoo on Thursday, becoming just the latest in a string of unfortunate incidents at the attraction this summer, following four animal deaths in recent months.
The Toronto Zoo announced on Thursday night via press release that one of its male orangutans, Kembali, escaped to “an area just outside of the new outdoor habitat.”
A volunteer reportedly notified health and safety staff of the escape, which triggered a quick response with the zoo “able to clear guests from the area” and adding that “the animal was returned to the habitat without incident.”
Police were called to the scene as a precautionary measure and kept on standby in the administration parking lot during the incident, which seems like an appropriate response when there’s an orangutan on the loose.
“We are grateful to our zoo team for their quick actions,” reads the news release.
The zoo is currently reviewing video footage to determine just how the orangutan escaped its enclosure, and is appealing to visitors for any video footage that may help them get to the bottom of this escape.
Sadly, the escaped orangutan is just another unfortunate event at a facility that has been plagued by misfortune all summer.
The Toronto Zoo has already lost two red pandas, a moose and a giraffe in what has been an unusually tragic summer for the attraction.
A male red panda cub died at six weeks old in July, followed by the passing of the zoo’s two-year-old Masai giraffe later that month during a castration procedure. In August, Trilly the moose and a senior red panda died, bringing the count up to four animals.