A monkey that escaped from a wildlife park four days ago has been found and recaptured.
A search operation was launched after the Japanese macaque escaped from its enclosure at the Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie on Sunday.
The monkey, named Honshu, was captured and tranquilised on Thursday morning after it was discovered feasting on a bird feeder in a garden.
Keith Gilchrist, living collections operations manager at Highland Wildlife Park, said: “We can confirm we have successfully caught the macaque that escaped from the park on Sunday, named Honshu.
"After a call to our hotline just after 10am our keepers and drone team made their way to a member of the public’s garden where the monkey was eating from a birdfeeder and successfully used a tranquiliser dart to catch him.
“The monkey is on the way back to the park with our keepers where he will be looked over by one of our vet team and reintroduced to sub-adult males within the group.
“We want to thank everyone who has helped during the process and will continue to share any further updates.”
A specialist team began tracking the monkey using drones with thermal imaging after his escape.
With help from BH Wildlife Consultancy they were able to follow the macaque for 45 minutes on Tuesday using drones, but he was not in a position from which they could retrieve him.
Drone footage had shown him roaming about underneath trees and sitting in undergrowth to have a look about before loping off.
The wildlife park houses a large group of Japanese macaques after success with breeding.
It is also known as the snow monkey and is the most northerly living non-human primate.
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