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Gibbon could get a new home after the great ape escape

Elvis, a 14-year-old Siamang gibbon, briefly escaped from his enclosure at the Honolulu Zoo before staff and volunteers quickly responded and led him back to his cage. 

Elvis left his enclosure Thursday afternoon.  

Elvis and another gibbon, Mahina, will be transferred to the veterinarian hospital at the zoo on Monday as officials discuss sometime next week a modification plan to the exhibit to prevent a recurrence. Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo said they are going to examine the existing exhibit and look at other exhibits to see if they’re better suited for the pair.

About 2:10 p.m. Thursday, a volunteer, who declined to give his name, said he was cutting ferns at the enclosure when he saw Elvis on the wooden plank located above the water, which runs from the cage to a tree and grassy area within the exhibit. The volunteer said Elvis then jumped about 10 to 12 feet from the plank to the exhibit’s surrounding cement wall before he jumped atop a nearby chain-link fence and onto the public walkway that surrounds the exhibit. 

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