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Last updated May 19 2008
Orangutan escapes pen at LA Zoo
By Lee Harvey, MSN Search Editor
Find out more about Bruno the Orangutan's audacious escape at Los Angeles Zoo with Live Search (Image © AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)Over 3,000 weekend visitors to Los Angeles Zoo were forced to head for the exits after a 300-pound orangutan escaped from his enclosure.

29-year-old Bruno, one of six orangutans at the zoo, escaped from his enclosure after discovering a small hole in the wire mesh fence. He used his hands to enlarge the gap and liberate himself from the confines of his pen.

Once keepers realized Bruno has disappeared, they were forced to herd all of the zoo’s 3,000 visitors to a safe area as a precaution. But rather than running amok through the zoo’s public areas or fleeing to the bright lights of the city, Bruno simply chose to hang out in a secluded area behind his enclosure.

After 20 minutes of freedom, Bruno was spotted by one of his handlers and, after receiving a sedative, was returned to the confines of his pen. Zoo director John Lewis told ABC News that, as all the facility’s orangutans has been trained to allow keepers to administer medicine, Bruno remained passive while he received the injection.

While visitors to the Los Angeles Zoo were relatively unaffected by Bruno’s escape bid, American animal enthusiasts haven’t always been so lucky. In December 2007, one man was killed and two more injured when a tiger escaped from its pen in San Francisco Zoo, an incident blamed on the incorrect design of the big cat’s pen.




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