Chimpanzee escapes from Japan zoo, leads police on two-hour chase

A male chimpanzee named Chacha escaped from a zoo in Sendai, Japan, and led police and zookeepers on a nearly two-hour chase through a residential area on Thursday, April 14.

Chacha is one of the five chimpanzees kept at Yagiyama Zoological Park. Staff members noticed one of the chimps missing from a cage around 1:20 p.m. local time, and the park was immediately closed as a precaution, according to the Japan Times.

Chacha, a male chimp, falls off an electric pole after being hit by a sedative arrow in Sendai, Japan on April 14, 2016.

The 24-year-old animal was finally spotted scaling the power lines in a neighborhood around 3:10 p.m. Photos and news footage show Chacha lashing out at zoo officials before he was shot with a tranquilizer and caught by rescuers on the ground.

“Chacha is coming to from the tranquilizer,” zoo staff member Toshikazu Abe told AFP. “Despite the fall, he was unhurt and there is no threat to his life."

No one was reported injured, but an investigation has been launched by zoo officials to figure out how he escaped, according to reports.

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