A QUARANTINED monkey has been shot dead after escaping from its cage in Edinburgh Zoo.
The animal went on the run from a rabies quarantine area at the zoo, which is home to more than 1000 animals.
Visitors were evacuated from the park to a secure location while the hunt for the monkey – a tailless barbary macaque – continued.
It
was tracked down several times running through the zoo but efforts to stop the monkey with a tranquilliser gun failed.
Zookeepers decided to shoot the animal dead on Tuesday afternoon after fearing it might get lost in the 82-acre parkland.
A spokesman for the zoo said it had to be shot as leaving it on the run with suspected rabies was not a risk they could take.
Iain Valentine, head of animals, said shooting the monkey was the only choice they had.
He said: "Having to shoot one of the animals in our care is a regrettable situation but the welfare of the public has to be our primary concern.
"We have robust procedures in place to deal with an escape situation.
"The animal was in rabies quarantine at the time and we had to act quickly to ensure public safety."
Zoo bosses contacted police who were happy the situation was handled in the right way.
Edinburgh Zoo was last placed on escape alert in March 2006 when a teenage gang destroyed the door locks on the tiger enclosure.
The youths were chased by security staff after finding the doors of the Amur tigers' pen being tampered with.
However, an escape attempted was avoided with the tigers found still inside the pen.
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