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© Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Chimp flees Sendai zoo; caught after falling from power pole
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Sensato
@wipeout
My thoughts exactly. That man in the cherry picker basket is extremely fortunate to be alive. He came within inches of the chimp jumping into it. That would certainly have made for grisly evening news footage.
Hawkeye
Good luck to that primate. He is a mean SOB and if the guy with the sedative dart gun had been any closer, his face would have been chewed off. The three phase power (for those of you that don't know electrical power) the three power lines on the top of the power pole carry what is called three phases of power to run equipment that requires three phase power unlike home appliances that use single phase with a ground like your rice cooker that has two flat prongs and a rounded ground wire. So long story short, they must have shut down the power in that area because if you grip at least two of the three thick electrical lines or their connections you will be electrocuted. If you don't believe me try it.
Black Sabbath
Is it just me, or is 'chimp' just an inherently funny word?
Frederic Bastiat
What's so pitiful is that the chimpanzee, an intelligent animal, understands the fact of captivity, but in the wild (even in the proper region) because of years of captivity wouldn't be able to actually survive. Kind of like many humans.
Kobe White Bar Owner
Just a wee point that chimpanzee are not monkeys they are apes.
Danny Bloom
Amazing video. Thanks
shallots
Yuk. Close down these zoos.
M3M3M3
It's amazing to see how the chimp was smart enough to realise that it was the people in the basket who shot him and how he came toward them to get his revenge, just like any angry person would do. It really shows how similar we are. I hope this zoo (and all others) get shut down.
WilliB
Usually I am with the escapee from the zoo prison, but this was a male chimp -- you really do not want that sort of animal on the loose. Good thing they caught him.
Vernie Jefferies
Most people don't realize that grown male chimpanzees are very strong and more dangerous than gorillas. They are known to attack humans and will maul you if you get too close. The guy in the bucket was lucky that Chacha didn't leap on him and bite his face off. I assume those spectators on the ground didn't understand they were around a such a dangerous animal. They are lovable and cute when they are young, but dealing with an adult chimpanzee is a whole different situation.
smithinjapan
Sensato: "These could easily have been same jokers who caused the zebra to panic and die recently. Poor judgement aside, rescue workers in Japan really need training in how to remain calm, cool and collected during crisis situations."
What??? But every year they have those drills (they likely drill for before showing the press) where the guy dresses up and they catch him no problem! How could this be?
Thunderbird
ok, so you're walking around in your house (climbing trees, in the Nature) when people start shooting at you, all out in force to arrest you and put you in the jail, life in prison. what was the poor chimpanzee's crime?
rednig
What I am not hearing about is that the monkey was electrocuted before he fell. There will be some bad damage to it. Also the head hitting the ground. This monkey is probably dead or going to die. If it does make it, it will have major issue's. Why did they not cut the power when he was up there. Make the Japanese look like there is no common sense
Kobe White Bar Owner
Poor thing, hope he can pull through but that was quite a bang to the head after a very possible electric shock. Gumbutee Chacha!
Alistair Carnell
Watching the link that Sensato provided, it's quite clear that the chimp received a powerful electric shock, it touched something, and its body went rigid for a second, then it fell.
The sheet they caught it on, was practically on the ground, couldn't they have held it up a bit higher?
Bungled attempt at rescue, poor Chacha.
cleo
Poor Chacha.
I'm sure I read somewhere that it's a very, very bad idea to shoot a tranquilliser dart at an animal like a monkey or an ape that has a tendency to climb to escape danger. And in this case he was already high up on the telegraph pole.
It doesn't look from the video like the net did much to break poor Chacha's fall. I hope he's OK.
Disillusioned
Wow! This is a very lucky ending and not just for th chimp. It's so lucky that nobody was injured by this ape. I remember the pet chimp that escaped a house in the US few years ago and it actually ripped a guy's face off and bit off a couple of his fingers. Obviously, this zoo needs to review its safety procedures.
Moonraker
Yeah, seeing it again, it certainly doesn't look good; it doesn't look like they caught him at all. Yet, it was presented on NHK news as some kind of success story in which all turned out for the best. I wonder how many people thought like me; that it looked like it was a bit of a botch. I'd really like to know how the victim is.
FernGully
Thanks for the video. It looks like the chimp grabbed an exposed wire and then got shocked or electrocuted. He managed to catch himself, but maybe the tranquilizer kicked in and knocked him out, allowing him to lose his grip and fall, hitting another wire and falling violently on the ground.
Dang... I hope that moment of freedom for the chimp was worth it. Zoos must be terrible places to live.
Sensato
I've never seen anything like this before. Here is a better version of the video footage of the authorities shooting the chimp down from the phone pole (2' 30"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5-Fy4ULdPg
These could easily have been same jokers who caused the zebra to panic and die recently. Poor judgement aside, rescue workers in Japan really need training in how to remain calm, cool and collected during crisis situations.
smithinjapan
At least it didn't end like the zebra incident.
gogogo
For those "training" videos they do they certainly don't know how to do it in real life, that blanket didn't stop anything.
Maria
Poor thing. He must have been so unhappy.
paulinusa
Chacha is the nail that sticks out.
goldorak
Thanks for the vid tes, hadn't seen it. Its terrible. Again am no animal expert but trying to tranquilize a monkey who's on an electric pole can only end with the said chimp falling. Five 10yo kids would have held this blanket more firmly than those guys, seriously what were they doing!
If you shoot an animal near water (zebra) or 10m from the ground (chimp) at least make sure you are present AND ready to rescue them when they lose consciousness. Cringe-worthy vid.
tes tes
Video can be found here: http://nyti.ms/23yD7XQ
Legrande
Chacha knows what it feels like to be a salaryman
Citizen2012
He gave up ? Hard to believe the poor animal decided to jump and fell head down by himself, just a normal ending of the situation because of the sedative arrow, what else did they expect ?
papigiulio
That's the 2nd animal to escape within one month, with one death (zebra) and now this chimpanzee hurt, either they need to up the security or better educate the people trying to re-capture the animal how to do it more gently.
MsDelicious
His poor head hit the ground. This monkey will be lucky if it lives.
nedotjp
no matter how you paint it a Zoo is a prison
Moonraker
On NHK news, it looked like he hit his body on something protruding from the pole as he fell and with force enough to make him spin in the air. So it seemed to be far from a happy ending. It would have been nice to know his condition after what looked like a rather bungled capture.