CHIBA, May 20 — The zoo housing viral Japanese macaque Punch said yesterday it is considering a complete ban on photography and filming around the monkey enclosure after two men were recently arrested over an intrusion incident.
The Ichikawa City Zoo in Chiba Prefecture has already expanded the buffer zone around the enclosure and installed anti-intrusion netting following Sunday’s incident involving two men claiming to be US nationals, according to Kyodo News.
The monkey gained international attention after going viral for clinging to an orangutan plushie following abandonment by his mother.
Police yesterday referred the two men to prosecutors after arresting them on suspicion of forcible obstruction of business. One of them is a 24-year-old claiming to be a university student, while the other is a 27-year-old self-professed singer.
According to the allegations, the two men conspired to trespass into the zoo’s monkey enclosure at about 10.50 am on Sunday.
Police said the younger man scaled a fence and dropped into the concrete enclosure dressed in a character costume, while the older man filmed him using a smartphone from outside.
Takashi Yasunaga, head of the Ichikawa municipal government’s zoological and botanical garden division, said the act endangered both the animals’ health and the safety of zookeepers.
“We want to take various measures to ensure something like this never happens again,” he said.
Punch was born in July and was later given the orangutan plushie by zookeepers as a substitute for his mother.
He began living with other monkeys in the enclosure in January, while the zoo has continued posting updates on his progress on social media, attracting widespread online attention and many visitors.
