Four chimpanzees, one of which is wounded, were on the loose inside a building in a Swedish zoo on Thursday, a day after they escaped from their enclosure. Three others have been shot dead.

Swedish officials and media said the wounded animal had not received veterinary attention because no one could safely get inside the building at Furuvik zoo.

The chimps were inside the monkey house but staff had not been able to get the three uninjured ones back into their enclosure, the animal park said in a statement. The wounded animal returned to its enclosure on its own. [...]

The animals escaped on Wednesday, prompting the zoo to alert the authorities. Three chimps were shot dead by staff and the fourth was wounded. The zoo told Swedish media that the animals had to be killed because there was not enough tranquilliser for all of them.

The animals were well known in Sweden, and their deaths have provoked anger:

Researcher Mathias Osvath, who knew them for several years, insisted they posed no real danger. "If I'd met them in the park my pulse would have risen but I wouldn't have been afraid for my life. It's a tragedy," he told the BBC. [...]

The zoo is currently closed for the season so members of the public were not present, but zoo officials said the escaped animals still posed a threat and staff were evacuated or ordered to stay indoors. [...]

A former caretaker, who worked with the animals for 30 years, accused the zoo of acting unprofessionally. "I think they panicked," Ing-Marie Persson told public broadcaster SVT.

On Friday, the zoo confirmed the identities of two of the dead chimpanzees, Linda and Torsten. A third was also confirmed dead and another feared dead - they were named as Santino and Manda.

After years spent researching the chimpanzees, cognitive zoologists from the University of Lund have now suspended their co-operation with the zoo.

"I knew them personally, I would say. I've hugged Manda, I've kissed Linda and I've had tugs of war with Santino," said Mathias Osvath, who pointed out the chimpanzees had broken out of their enclosure many years ago, when there were visitors inside the zoo.

Santino was well known beyond Sweden for his artistic skills and was reported to be a favourite of Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria.

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