Chimpanzee on the Loose for Two Hours Before Zoo Workers Finally Catch Up to Him — in Quite the Precarious Spot

TOKYO (AP) — A chimpanzee fled from a zoo in northern Japan and tried desperately to avoid being captured by climbing an electric pole.

Image source: YouTube

Not for long.

Chacha, the male chimp, was on the loose nearly two hours Thursday after it disappeared from the Yagiyama Zoological Park in Sendai, the city that's hosting finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations in May.

Image source: YouTube

TV footage showed Chacha perched atop the pole, agitated and screaming at zoo workers below. Even after being hit by a sedative arrow in the back, Chacha desperately tried to escape, dangling from a power line.

Image source: YouTube

He finally gave up and fell head down into a blanket held by a dozen workers on the ground. It's not immediately clear if he survived.

Zoo officials are investigating how he escaped.