Odd News

Japanese monkey captured after daring cage break

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-01-25 10:00

TOKYO - A marauding monkey that terrorized resort towns in central Japan by biting nearly 120 people was captured Tuesday after briefly escaping captivity.

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The monkey called Lucky slipped out of a government-run nature park on Monday while a keeper was cleaning her cage. Officials raised the alert across Mishima City, where she attacked residents last year.

Park and city officials found Lucky at a public park a day after she went missing.

"Her capture was easy. We called her name repeatedly, and she came to us," said city official Hidetsugu Uchida. "She has been used to being called by her name."

Lucky will be sent back to the nature park where she has been kept since her previous capture in October. She is one of its most famous residents.

Lucky is a type of macaque, one of the most common wild mammals in Japan. They are considered a nuisance in rural areas, where they damage crops and steal food.

Lucky has proved a tough catch in the past, avoiding citywide monkey hunts during her previous two-month biting spree.