Escaped chimpanzees first on shoot-to-kill list at Wellington Zoo

Georgia--

Wellington Zoo has sharpshooters on hand to kill animals if there is a mass escape and first in the firing line are chimpanzees.

After heavy flooding in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, a range of animals - including hippopotamus, tigers, lions, bears, and wolves - escaped from a zoo this week.

Wellington Zoo collections development manager Simon Eyre said the zoo had procedures in case of a similar mass escape in New Zealand, which would be most likely to happen in an earthquake.

First to be shot would be chimpanzees. The animals could be "anything up to 10 times the strength of a person" and were known to hunt other primates in the wild. They were also inquisitive and adventurous.

Lions and tigers were next on the shoot-to-kill list because they were both apex predators even if they would most-likely return to their enclosure if they got out.

Baboons, which could be aggressive, and sun bears, which were strong and had large claws, rounded out the shoot-to-killl list.

All other animals in the zoo would simply be recaptured.

While it would be hard to shoot the animals it would be worse to not shoot them then to have them hurt a person, Mr Eyre said.

The Environmental Protection Agency has a list of all animals in New Zealand that need to be destroyed if they escape and risk humans.

On the list are male chimpanzees, male orangutans, male baboons, as well as female versions if the risk is considered life-threatening. Macaques also need to be destroyed if they have herpes B.

Tigers, lions, jaguars, leopards, pumas, and snow leopards also make the list.

Wellington Zoo is currently trying to get snow leopards.