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http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/12/chimpanzees.killed.ap/index.html

Chimps killed after zoo escape

ROYAL, Nebraska (AP) -- Three chimpanzees from a small-town zoo were
shot and killed after they escaped from their enclosure and could not
be captured, the zoo director said.

The primates at Zoo Nebraska were able to get out of the cage Saturday
when a padlock was not completely closed after cleaning, said zoo
director Ken Schlueter Jr. He killed the animals with a deputy's
service revolver after a tranquilizer gun didn't show any effect.

No people were hurt, state patrol spokeswoman Deb Collins said. The
zoo is located in Royal, a northeastern Nebraska village of 75; one of
its major donors was the late entertainer Johnny Carson.

After the chimps lifted the padlock and broke out, employees
immediately moved visitors into an office area, but the chimps tried
to get into the building, Schlueter said.

"When it became apparent there'd be danger here, they had to be
destroyed," Schlueter told the Lincoln Journal Star.

Schlueter did not immediately return a message left for him by The
Associated Press on Monday.

The Nebraska State Patrol and Antelope County Sheriff's Department
were called to help capture the animals. A fourth chimpanzee also
escaped, but quickly returned to its cage, officials said.

The seven-acre zoo opened 18 years ago as the Midwest Primate Research
Facility with one animal -- a chimpanzee named Reuben, one of those
killed Saturday. Carson, the late host of NBC's "The Tonight Show" who
grew up not far from Royal, donated $55,000 to the zoo for the Carson
Center for Chimps 15 years ago and an additional $20,000 more
recently. He died in January.

Schlueter said the chimps weighed up to 300 pounds or more, and he
shot two of them with a tranquilizer gun, but the tranquilizers had
not taken effect after five minutes.

The danger chimps pose to humans was highlighted when a man and his
wife were attacked by chimpanzees March 3 at the Animal Haven Ranch
near Bakersfield, California. The man was severely mauled and the
woman lost part of her thumb before the animals where shot to death.

The Nebraska animals' carcasses were flown Sunday to a zoo in St.
Louis, where autopsies were planned.