Elvis, a 14-year-old siamang gibbon, briefly escaped from his enclosure at the Honolulu Zoo before staff and volunteers quickly responded and led him back to his cage.
Elvis left his enclosure Thursday afternoon.
Elvis and another gibbon, Mahina, will be transferred to the veterinary hospital at the zoo Monday as officials discuss sometime next week a modification plan to the exhibit to prevent a recurrence. Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo said they are going to examine the existing exhibit and look at other exhibits to see whether they’re better suited for the pair.
At about 2:10 p.m. Thursday, a volunteer, who declined to give his name, said he was cutting ferns at the enclosure when he saw Elvis on the wooden plank above the water, which runs from the cage to a tree and grassy area within the exhibit. The volunteer said Elvis then jumped about 10 to 12 feet from the plank to the exhibit’s surrounding cement wall before he jumped atop a nearby chain-link fence and onto the public walkway that surrounds the exhibit.
Security and several staff and volunteers quickly responded to a code red alert. Visitors were evacuated from the area as staff and volunteers used three small carbon dioxide dispensers to direct Elvis back to his cage after he traveled halfway around the exhibit. The dispensers are used to distract and control the animal with the cloudlike effect and "whooshing sound" emitted from the canister, said zoo veterinarian Ben Okimoto. "The visual effect from the cloud startles them without hurting them."
A volunteer suffered minor scratches to his left leg after the gibbon grabbed him. He was treated at a clinic. Okimoto said Elvis jumped back onto the cement wall and into the water and swam to the grassy patch before he reached the wooden plank and returned to his cage.
Okimoto, who has worked at the zoo for 24 years, said this is the first time a gibbon escaped from the siamang exhibit. The response team was able to direct Elvis to his cage within 10 minutes. "The response from other keepers was real quick," Okimoto said.
In May 2006, Elvis arrived at the Honolulu Zoo from the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in South Carolina. He was born at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans.
Mollinedo commended Okimoto for the extensive emergency escape training sessions he conducts quarterly, and staff members and volunteers for their efficient response.
"I can’t give him enough credit, and I can’t give staff enough credit," he said.
