Two (human) individuals were injured over the weekend when a group of monkeys escaped from their cage and caused a bit of havoc during their few hours of newfound freedom.
The incident took place at the Yangon Zoo around 9am this past Sunday. A zoo employee wanted to clean the monkey enclosure, and so temporarily moved the animals to another cage. However, the door of the temporary cage was only ‘secured’ with a piece of wire that one zoogoer thought would be funny to remove, consequently letting out its inhabitants.
The three monkeys were eventually caught, but not before they attacked two women, one local and one Australian.
According to the local woman’s son, his mother was bitten while trying to protect her grandchildren and pregnant daughter-in-law from the runaway primates.
The foreign woman was bitten near adjacent Kandawgyi Lake around 10:30am that same morning. Apparently, she tried to pet the monkey thinking he was tame, only to be bitten and find out that he obviously wasn’t.
Zoo staff offered to pay for medical assistance for both victims, although the foreigner declined, instead boarding a plane abroad that same evening.
The family of the Myanmar woman has opened a case at the Mingalar Taung Nyunt Police Station, pointing out that the injury could’ve been much more serious if an animal more dangerous than a monkey had escaped.
Speaking to 7Day, Zoo Administrator Tun Aung Win expressed, “Regardless of who’s to blame, we [the zoo] have a responsibility. We’re extremely sorry about what happened. We would like to express our deepest apologies to our visitors. We give our word that a situation like this will never occur again.”
He also confirmed that all cages that are only secured with a metal wire will be shut with a proper lock and key from now on. Better later than never, we guess?
