Orangutan Escaped by Swinging in ‘Cartwheel-Like Motion’ and Climbing Down Tower: Toronto Zoo

The Toronto Zoo says it has determined how one of its orangutans managed to briefly escape from its outdoor habitat on Thursday evening. In an update on Saturday, Aug. 31, the zoo said videos and photos sent by members of the public who visited the orangutans’ enclosure on the evening of Aug. 29 helped it gain a better grasp of how Kembali, a male orangutan, “was able to climb down the tower and access the area just outside the habitat.” “[O]ur preliminary investigation shows that Kembali was on one of the towers at the south end of the outdoor habitat when he swung in a cartwheel-like motion from the bottom rope (o-line) to the platform, around the secondary barrier (hot wire) near the top of the tower, and then grabbed a gusset (steel bracket) located under the platform,” said the zoo in a series of posts on X....