Zoo officials in the Netherlands were forced to shoot and kill 2 animals after they managed to escape their enclosure.
Mike and Karibuna, 2 chimpanzees, were the ones that got killed.
According to reports, the 2 animals managed to jump out of their enclosures at the Dieren Park Amersfoort.
They did not get to go too far before they got confronted by zookeepers.
The zoo released a statement about the incident and said that they are extremely sorry that they had to kill the animals.
The statement reads:
The situation was under control quickly and no visitors or employees were injured. To prevent further escalation, these two male chimps were shot dead. We deeply regret this event. The first conclusions are that we are dealing with a human error around closing the accommodations, which made two monkeys come out of the accommodation. In the next few days, further investigation will be carried out on the cause. At the moment we have found that there are no technical flaws in the stay. The two chimpanzees were seen almost immediately after the escape by our behind the scenes animal caregivers.
The zoo said that they had to make sure that the visitors and staffs were safe after the escape.
The “Animal Escaped” protocol was called after the 2 animals escaped their enclosures.
Mike and Karibuna, the chimps, were reportedly showing behavior that made zookeepers worry about danger.
The decision of shooting the animals was made at the moment due to their “impressive behavior”, said the zoo officials.
The statement added:
Therefore the decision to shoot the chimpanzees was made at that moment. It’s a black day for Animal Park Amersfoort. We therefore deeply regret this situation. The two chimps, Mike and Karibuna, have been part of the chimpanzee group in our park for a long time. For our employees and visitors we offer victim assistance. We ask visitors who were at the moment of the event in our park to report to us, we would love to get in touch with them.
Hours after the shooting and killing of the chimps, the zoo was closed.
The park said that they were going to close due to coronavirus causing a second wave in the Netherlands.
The park will stay shut until November 19, 2020.
The park said that it is a bad day for them.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the zoo and may the souls of the animals rest in peace.