Barang: The Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP) authorities here breathed a sigh of relief Monday with the staffers capturing the 1.5-year-old male Tamarin monkey which had escaped the veterinary hospital quarantine Thursday.
According to sources, some zoo staffers were feeding the male primate at the quarantine when it managed to escape through a hole in the grille. Frantic attempts to catch the monkey did not yield results. “Although we spotted it sitting amid the nearby bamboo bush, we couldn’t catch him,” a zoo employee said.
A 20-member team of NZP, led by range officer (sanctuary management) Ashok Kumar Das, laid a trap and nabbed it around 10am. “We spotted it sitting atop a guava tree and captured it,” Das said.
Sources said the zoo authorities had brought a pair each of the Tamarin monkey and Black-tufted marmoset from Tamil Nadu zoo March 25. “Later, the monkey pairs were quarantined under observation of the veterinarians. Although, the Black-tufted marmosets were relocated in the enclosures 10 days ago, the Tamarin monkeys remained quarantined due to non-availability of enclosures,” a zoo staffer said.
