BERLIN (AP) – About two dozen monkeys broke out of a southwestern German zoo and spent the day lounging in the sun near a forest before being recaptured, authorities said Thursday.
Barbary macaques, more commonly known as Barbary macaques, escaped from the zoo in Loeffingen, southwest of Stuttgart and not far from the Swiss border. It wasn’t entirely clear how they got out, but construction work at the zoo may have been a factor, police said.
The primates were spotted in a pack around the area, but zoo employees were unable to recapture them and eventually lost sight of them. A few hours later, they were spotted, recaptured and returned to their cages without incident, police said.
“The animals apparently took advantage of the good weather and spent the afternoon at the edge of a forest near the zoo,” police said.
Native to the Atlas Mountains of North Africa, the Barbary Macaque has a small but famous overwater presence in Europe in the British territory of Gibraltar.