The #1 source for news about monkeys and apes

[carrie mclaren <brooklynite282 AT gmail.com>]

Ape escape: Audubon Zoo orangutan breaks out for a few minutes freedom
by John Pope, The Times-Picayune
Friday January 30, 2009, 9:23 PM
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/ape_escape_audubon_zoo_orangut.html

Using only a stretched green T-shirt and powerful upper-body strength, a
Sumatran orangutan named Berani escaped from his Audubon Zoo enclosure
Friday -- for about 10 minutes.

Employing a level of cunning that could have come from a prison movie, the
brownish-orange primate stretched the shirt, scaled a 10 1/2-foot wall to
the top of the moat, wrapped the shirt around the "hot" electrical wires
surrounding the exhibit and swung out about 12:45 p.m., zoo spokeswoman
Sarah Burnette said.

Berani means "brave" in Bornean, Burnette said, but on Friday afternoon, it
could have meant "reluctant."

"He seemed like he wanted to get back into the exhibit, " Burnette said.
"That's the way it is in zoos. . . . He jumped over the enclosure and jumped
back in."

Berani, who didn't harm anyone, used a T-shirt that had been tossed into the
enclosure as a toy for the 150-pound adolescent male and two female orangs,
Blaze and Feliz.

The sight of a primate mixing on the grounds with zoo patrons did cause a
mild stir.

"There was a group of people standing there, " Burnette said, "and they kind
of pointed, and there was Berani, standing in the middle of the boardwalk.
He kind of lingered there for no more than 10 minutes and catapulted himself
back into his exhibit."

Aside from a possible sting when Berani brushed against a wire on his way
back in, no one was injured, Burnette said.

Whenever an animal makes a break, humans are hustled into buildings to
protect them, she said, and nearby animals are put inside their enclosures
so they won't distract the escapee.

Berani was "very congenial, not threatening, " she said. "He wanted to
explore a little bit and figured it was time to get back home because his
zookeeper was yelling at him."

Once Berani was back in confinement, the exhibit was closed. The escapee was
put in his night house -- behind the exhibit area and away from public view
-- and the entire primate area was closed, Burnette said. Berani will be
back on view today, but Burnette said he will remain under surveillance all
weekend.

The zoo also likely will adjust the mix of primate playthings.

"We gave them T-shirts every day, " Burnette said. "Not anymore."