Escaped snow monkey found in Scottish Highlands

EDINBURGH - A snow monkey that escaped from an animal park in the Scottish Highlands has been found after stopping to eat at a garden birdfeeder, a zoo manager said.

Thermal imaging drones had been deployed as part of efforts to locate the runaway primate named Honshu but a call from an eagle-eyed householder led to the animal being found.

"After a call to our hotline, our keepers and drone team made their way to a member of the public's garden where the monkey was eating from a bird feeder, and successfully used a tranquilliser dart to catch him.

"The monkey is on the way back to the park with our keepers, where he will be looked over by one of our vet team and reintroduced to sub-adult males within the group," said the park's living collections operations manager, Keith Gilchrist.

The male Japanese macaque managed to get out of its enclosure at the Highland Wildlife Park in the Cairngorm National Park on Sunday.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland advised locals not to approach Honshu, even though he was not thought to be dangerous to animals or humans. 

The Japanese macaque, also known as the snow monkey, is the most northerly living non-human primate, according to the RZSS, which runs the park