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| Zoo's 30 chimps escape enclosure | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Thirty chimpanzees have escaped from their enclosure at a zoo in Cheshire, forcing it to be closed. | |
| The animals found their way into a nearby keepers' area, where their food is usually prepared, at about 1240 BST, Chester Zoo said. | |
| A spokeswoman for the zoo said the animals had been contained and the zoo was closed as a security measure. | |
| How the animals came to leave their quarters is not known but they were not in an area accessed by the public. | |
| Sarah Jones, from Chester, was among the visitors at the zoo when the animals left their enclosure. | |
| "My two young boys had only just gone into the chimpanzee house when we heard terrifying loud noises," she said. | |
| I saw keepers running into the house and visitors were asked to head to other areas of the zoo Sarah Jones Chester Zoo visitor | |
| "The chimpanzees were large animals and they seemed very upset about something, they were making a frightening noise, I thought something was wrong, so we made our way out of the building. | |
| "I saw keepers running into the house and visitors were asked to head to other areas of the zoo. | |
| "We ended up being stuck in the cafe area for quite a while." | |
| Chimpanzees are considered to be the most intelligent non-human primate. They are mainly terrestrial, but do spend time in the trees. | |
| A zoo spokeswoman described them as very strong animals but said there had been no injuries to any member of the public or to staff. | |
| "The decision to evacuate the zoo was purely taken as a precautionary measure," the zoo said in a statement. | |
| "We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused to our visitors and would thank them for their full co-operation and patience." | |
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