The escape of seven chimpanzees from Gävle’s Furuviksparken Zoo, which began on Wednesday, came to an end on Saturday. The three chimpanzees that survived have been returned to their enclosure.
In Sweden, people now have four names on their lips – Santino, Linda, Torsten and Manda. These four chimpanzees were shot in the monkey killing at Furuviksparken Zoo, which came to an end on Saturday.
– Today we are talking about how the monkeys have been murdered, and this cannot be forgiven. Many people say they will never visit Furuviksparken again and demand that the zoo management resign,” says Pyykölä.
On Wednesday, all seven chimpanzees at the zoo escaped from their enclosure by unknown means.
Three of the monkeys were shot shortly after escaping.
At first, the zoo announced that the shooting was decided because there was too little anesthetic. However, this announcement was retracted and the zoo cited the danger to humans.
The shot chimpanzees were semi-celebrities familiar to Swedes from television. The oldest of them, Santino, was famous for his stoning attacks on visitors, which were even the subject of scientific research due to their planning.
– They were familiar to many Swedes from decades ago, they were referred to by their first name and they came to see them in the summer, Pyykölä says.
Furuviksparken has apologized for its failure and the events are going to be investigated.
Director of Korkeasaari: Our monkeys are afraid of water, they would hardly swim to Helsinki
– However, we are located on an island that can be closed off, and monkeys avoid water, so they would hardly leave us to swim in Helsinki.
It is difficult for Hellström to assess whether shooting the Swedish chimpanzees was the right decision.
– A risk assessment has been made in the situation and acted upon. When using anesthetic arrows, you must be close to the animals without obstacles. The anesthetic does not take effect immediately, which must be taken into account for people in immediate danger.