Woodland Park Zoo shut down briefly by loose monkey

The Woodland Park Zoo was evacuated and locked down this morning after a small monkey escaped from an enclosure and ran off, zoo officials said.

By 11:25 a.m., zookeepers had found the 12-year-old male DeBrazza's monkey named Riktus and hit it with a tranquilizer dart, said zoo spokesman David Schaefer. No one was injured and there was no indication anyone was in any danger, he said.

The zoo has been reopened.

The animal got loose sometime around 11 a.m., while the zoo was open to visitors, Schaefer said. Zookeepers had been introducing the monkey to an exhibit called Monkey Island, which is surrounded by a moat.

Mammal curator Martin Ramirez said the monkey swam across the moat and climbed up a rock wall, apparently exploring its new home. Other similar monkeys have escaped from the open-air exhibit before, he said, and officials plan to re-evaluate its containment features..

The zoo was evacuated mostly as a precaution, "because it's a wild animal," Schaefer said. Visitors were alerted by a public-address system to leave.

DeBrazza's monkeys are native to swamps and mountain forests of eastern and central Africa, where their habitat is threatened by development. Males weigh about 15 pounds and grow to about 2 feet in length, not counting the long tail. They have dark gray fur, a distinctive orange crescent on their foreheads, and a long, white furry beard.

The monkeys are tree-dwelling omnivores, eating vegetables and very small critters in the wild, such as reptiles and bugs.