TAMPA, FLA. (WSVN) - Employees at Busch Gardens have captured and returned an orangutan to its enclosure after it reportedly broke out, Friday afternoon.
According to several news reports, the ape had somehow gotten loose in the crowded theme park. Guests posted pictures and cellphone video of the orangutan in a tree on Twitter.
At one point the orangutan fell from the tree and climbed up a sign, while parkgoers watched in astonishment.
“Once the orangutan fell to the floor again, Busch Gardens security kind of pushed everyone back, because they sensed that everyone was getting a little panicked,” Guillermo Ramos, a witness, said. “It was a precautionary measure.”
Witness Ricardo Rodriguez said the orangutan behaved like a kid in a candy store. “It was just friendly, it was having a good time,” he said. “He was just enjoying the moment, that he got loose, he was like a baby.”
Some guests were ordered to go into safer places like a cafeteria as park employees corralled the animal and returned it to its enclosure.
Florida Fish and Wildlife said the animal was tranquilized with a dart and then returned to its enclosure. FWC officers will investigate the incident.
Busch Gardens released a statement that reads, “The Animal Care responded immediately, and the animal is back safely and securely in the habitat without incident. The safety of our guests, employees and animals is our number one priority.”
This is the second such incident at Busch Gardens in the past few weeks. On June 16, a juvenile orangutan got loose in an area of the park away from guests, and was returned to its enclosure unharmed.
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