Orangutan Escape Attempt: Short-Circuited Fence, Built Ladder

ADELAIDE, Australia — A zoo in Australia was evacuated Sunday after an "ingenious" 137-pound (62-kilogram) orangutan short-circuited an electric fence and hopped a wall surrounding her enclosure.

The ape, a 27-year-old female named Karta, jammed a stick into wires connected to the fence and then piled up debris to climb a concrete and glass wall at the Adelaide Zoo.

Zoo curator Peter Whitehead told reporters Karta sat on top of the fence for about 30 minutes before apparently changing her mind about the escape and climbing back into the enclosure.

"I think when she actually got out and realized where she was ... she's realized she shouldn't be there so then she's actually hung onto the wall and dropped back into the exhibit," Whitehead said.

Karta came within a few yards (meters) of visitors, who were the first to notice the animal's escape bid.

Whitehead said the animal was not aggressive, but the zoo was cleared as a precaution, and veterinarians stood by with tranquilizer guns in case of trouble.

"You're talking about an animal that's highly intelligent," Whitehead said. "We've had issues with her before in normal day-to-day operations where she tries to outsmart the keepers. She's an ingenious animal."

Officials at the zoo in the southern city of Adelaide would conduct a "thorough review" of the escape bid and it was likely some vegetation that could be used in a future try for freedom would be removed from Karta's enclosure.

Comments

[Cyberoptic]

02:11 PM on 05/12/2009

"You're talking about an animal that's highly intelligen­t," Whitehead said.

I suspect we are so into Darwinisti­c and biblical hierarchy we have no way of really judging animals' intelligen­ce. We probably need a new paradigm here.

[whohortonehears2]

12:05 PM on 05/12/2009

rather handsome wouldn't u say folks...

[moonbay]

12:59 AM on 05/12/2009

Friends of mine had an "electrici­an pig." The pig was kept in her compound with an electric fence. Yet, they would occasional­ly find her outside the compound in the morning. One rainy night, my friend noticed the pig at the fencing. She shorted the power by placing a wet stick across the wires and walked out. One mystery solved. How she learned this or figured it out is still a mystery.

[dandypuddin]

12:45 AM on 05/12/2009

Gosh, the animals are waking up. First Molly the Cow runs for her life and now an orangutan hatches an escape. Animal Farm?

[Vickster]

11:19 PM on 05/11/2009

I once watched a goat use a piece of deadfall to ground out an electric fence, nudging the branch with her nose until it touch the wire and the ground, then taking three steps backwards before she took a flying leap over the fence.

[VanillaSeven]

10:45 PM on 05/11/2009

This is awesome, another jailbreak attempt :)

http://van­illaseven.­com/

[joshuahmcdonald]

03:58 PM on 05/11/2009

You go Karta!

[pbgv23]

03:24 PM on 05/11/2009

The sad thing this article doesn't mention:
"A conservati­on expert says it is likely that an orangutan that escaped from its enclosure at the Adelaide Zoo on Sunday was pining for its mate.
The 27-year-ol­d Sumatran orangutan Karta had spent years with her companion Pusung before he died last month from a respirator­y infection.­..'She didn't try to escape or run away from this general area, she just got out and it's very possible she was looking for Pusung because to her he's missing and perhaps he's around here somewhere. That's possibly what was going through her head but of course we can't see into their heads and we can't ask them to tell us.'"
http://www­.abc.net.a­u/news/sto­ries/2009/­05/11/2567­364.htm

[anova9]

12:12 PM on 05/12/2009

Interestin­g, thanks.

[BrianShields25]

03:10 PM on 05/11/2009

DAMN DIRTY APES!!!

[dandypuddin]

12:46 AM on 05/12/2009

From whom you are descended. Drat!

[whohortonehears2]

12:05 PM on 05/12/2009

i see myself not in that comment...