Drone footage shows escaped monkey roaming Highlands

Experts searching for a monkey which escaped from a wildlife park three days ago have been able to follow his progress using drones.

Keepers said that the Japanese macaque is making his way closer to the Highland Wildlife Park which he left on Sunday after finding a way out of his enclosure.

With help from BH Wildlife Consultancy they were able to follow the macaque for 45 minutes on Tuesday using drones, however, he was not in a position from which they could retrieve him.

Drone footage shows him roaming about underneath trees and sitting in undergrowth to have a look about before loping off.

With a Met Office yellow warning of strong winds in place on Wednesday, and gusts of up to 85mph possible, weather conditions will mean it is not possible to use the drones, though the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) said the search will continue.

Keith Gilchrist, living collections operations manager at Highland Wildlife Park, said: “After continued help from @bhwildlifeconsultancy, we were able to follow the macaque for 45 minutes yesterday using drones.

“Unfortunately, he wasn’t in a position where we were confident we could bring him in safely but he is making his way closer to the park.

“Our team will be out again today but given the high winds we won’t be able to fly the drones but will be using thermal imaging cameras.

“We’re continuing to ask locals to please bring any obvious potential food sources like bird feeders or food waste inside.

“Although the macaque is not presumed dangerous to humans or pets, our advice is to not approach him but to contact our hotline on 07933 928377 with any sightings.”

The monkey was around 300 metres (roughly 980ft) north of the entry to the park in the footage captured by the drone.

The wildlife park, situated near Kingussie, houses a large group of Japanese macaques after successfully breeding the species.

The Japanese macaque, also known as the snow monkey, is the most northerly living non-human primate, according to the RZSS.

One couple who saw the monkey in their back garden at the weekend described the experience as “so surreal”.

Carl Nagle, 49, and his partner, Tiina Salzberg, 50, saw the monkey from their patio doors in Kincraig near Kingussie on Sunday morning.

It nibbled on the nuts in their bird feeder and perched on their garden fence for about 15 minutes before running away.

Ms Salzberg, a chief strategy officer for a marketing consultancy company, told the PA news agency: “We were watching in awe as it’s so displaced to see a Japanese snow monkey in your garden in a village in the middle of nowhere.

“It was absolutely wild, we were both elbowing each other trying to get the other one out of the way so we could get the best video and camera angles.

“It was incredible, I’m sure once in a lifetime.”

Mr Nagle said: “It’s just the most surreal thing, I’ve seen snow monkeys in the wild but you don’t expect to see them in your back garden in the Highlands.”