A young macaque that escaped from a wildlife park near Lake Constance in southern Germany was caught in an apple tree at a campsite after spending the night on the loose, park director Roland Hilgartner told the German Press Agency on Saturday.

The Barbary macaque managed to escape from its enclosure in the Salem Monkey Mountain wildlife park. It was last seen near a motorway near Uhldingen-Mühlhofen. Hilgartner believes that the macaque managed to jump from tree to tree to overcome the fence around the enclosure.

“Anyone who is a bit sporty can jump over there,” he says.

On Friday, police and Monkey Mountain staff tried to lure the young animal down from a tree with food, but the primate fled into a larger forest area.

On Saturday, people discovered the macaque and informed the police, Hilgartner said.

“Never before has an animal been so far away,” said Hilgartner, who has worked at the park for 17 years.

The enclosure’s fence is designed in such a way that it is very difficult for the animals to get outside, but they can climb back into the enclosure from the outside. Hilsgartner said it is common for macaques that escape from the enclosure to come back.

“The pressure to be with the group in familiar surroundings is great,” he said.

He had previously told the dpa that the macaques could survive well outside the wildlife park, at least for the time being, because the zookeepers only had to feed the primates in winter. There was plenty of plant food and the animals also ate insects, he said.

The flora and fauna on both sides of the fence are no different, Hilgartner said, “and they might even find an apple or two in the orchards.”

The grey-brown Barbary macaques come from the mountainous regions of Morocco and Algeria and are on the Red List of threatened species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

According to the park, the global population of Barbary macaques is estimated at fewer than 8,000 animals.

Almost 200 animals live in the 20-hectare forest area of ​​the monkey mountain, just as they would in the wild. Visitors can walk through the enclosure and get very close to the animals.