Insane things are happening at Furuvik Zoo. 4 chimpanzees gunned down after a break-out, a 5th shot but only wounded, 3 more on the loose. Drones are used to survey the besieged zoo, after +24 hours the bodies still litter the ground. Zoo says they were "out of tranquilizers".
One of the escapees (and, I reckon, the dead) is Santino, who has his own Wikipedia article: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santino_(… 
Source in English: thelocal.se/20221214/four-…
Rest in power, kings. Some photos of the chimps at Furuvik, pre-breakout massacre.
The media has interviewed Ing-Marie Persson, who worked at the zoo for 37 years and raised a lot of these chimpanzees. She is, to say the least, outraged.
UPDATE: Headline reads "The apes have taken over building: No one gets in - The chimpanzees saw through the maneuver - Team had to abort". An entry attempt had to be called off; zoo tried to lure the apes back into their habitat using sounds, but the chimps realized what was up.
As of 8 o'clock this evening, the four dead chimps remain scattered outside of their habitat. The previously mentioned drone surveillance has revealed that three chimps were walking around but that a fourth, presumably the one wounded by gunfire earlier, was down.
According to this gossip magazine, Santino the chimp — feared dead — was the "favorite chimp of Crown Princess Victoria", and both Victoria and Princess Madeleine are said to own paintings made by the ape. (See link to painting in the next tweet). svenskdam.se/kungligt/hemsk…
Here we have Santino the chimp painting.
Santino is not the only famous chimpanzee at Furuvik, who may be dead or alive, yet unknown. Another is Linda, who famously saw her family be killed by poachers in Liberia, before being placed in the zoo. Has been in headlines for over a decade.
Another "headline chimp" at Furuvik Zoo is Torsten, age 3, the first chimpanzee to be born at the zoo in some 25 years. You can see a Facebook video from the zoo's birthday celebration from January 2022 here: fb.watch/hrhlzIXfgG/
Ironically, the zoo logo prominently features a chimpanzee, as does the whole park entrance, and the besieged chimpanzee house is one of the first attractions that visitors to the combined zoo and amusement park pass by upon entry, as per the map below.
A small morning update. According to one news source, the park fire alarm has gone off and can't be turned off due to the chimps. The zoo suspects the cold has burst a water pipe and that the steam of that triggered it. At the time of writing the temp at Furuvik is -17°C (1.4°F).
Another update: The zoo has announced that they will continue monitoring the chimpanzees using a drone, and that they will try to feed the chimps by making entry shielded by some form of grating.
UPDATE: 48 hours have passed. 4 chimps remain uncaged in the building, 1 of which is likely dead from its wounds. I am happy to say my initial tweet was wrong, due to an early mistake in reporting: "Only" 4 chimps were shot, out of which 1 was injured, for a total of 7 apes. 1/2
⚖️ The police have started a investigation for breaches against the Animal Welfare Act, the Uppsala County Administration have started their own investigation, and Lund University announced a halt to their primate research cooperation with Furuvik Zoo. 2/2
BREAKING NEWS: The zoo have confirmed the names of the casualties. The dead chimpanzees still lying outside of the enclosure are Linda (b. 1980) and Torsten (b. 2019). Another two shot chimps are inside, one of which may alive, they are Santino (b. 1978) and Manda (b. 2004). 1/3
I have already described the elders, Santino (famous for his paintings and his resistance) and Linda (Liberian wild-born ape who lost her whole family to poachers). Manda, born in captivity, is described as Linda's adoptive daughter. 2/3
The final confirmed kill is Torsten, the first chimpanzee born in 25 at Furuvik. This means that his parents, Maria Magdalena och Tjobbe, are among the few survivors huddling in the building. At age 3 (about to turn 4 in January 2023), Torsten was still an infant. 3/3
Confirmed dead.
Confirmed dead.
No more updates at the moment. I just thought I'd share some more of the elder Santino's paintings, collected by his keepers and sold (for a lot of money, upwards of €1000), apparently to fundraise for great ape conversation. Santino is confirmed to have been shot.
Linda, the chimp whose entire family was killed by poachers in Liberia, has been described by her long-time keeper Ing-Marie Persson as having a terrible fear of thunder and fireworks, on account of the childhood trauma. Linda is among those confirmed to have been shot to death.
Starting to see political fallout. @martastenevi and @rebeckalemoine (Green Party) expressed concern about animal captivity. @YasmineEriksson (Sweden Democrats) called for a review of all zoos. @peterkullgren (Christian Democrats), Minister of Rural Affairs, says he's saddened.
NOTE: I have realized that the first image is not of Torsten (but the others should be). I apologize for this mistake: several websites used it, attributing it more or less clearly to Torsten, but it in fact seems to be from a German zoo.
Probably the last update of the day. Here's a view of the besieged chimpanzee building, in which the 3 survivors are roaming free. There's armed staff on guard outside. It's been approx 55 hours. It's -15°C (5°F) at present, but temperates expected to rise in the coming days.
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Finally some updated news in English. bbc.com/news/world-eur…
UPDATE: There's a lot of news since last night. First of all, it has been confirmed that all 4 shot chimpanzees are dead, including Santino (pictured). Secondly, parts of the chimp house have been breached by staff, and food, water, and portable heaters have been provided. 1/3
The staff's partial entry have allowed them to partially assess the status of the 3 surviving chimpanzees. One of them, Selma (b. 2008), has been found to be severely injured: she has a badly hurt eye, and can't move one of her arms. I don't see this ending well. 2/3
Finally, turns out there's other animals living in the chimpanzee house: reptiles and cotton-top tamarins (pictured). Their sections are among those just recaptured, and zoo staff are now trying to assess their situation, after days of no care or food. 3/3
Confirmed dead.
MAJOR UPDATE: The siege is over! Furuvik Zoo report that all 3 surviving chimpanzees, out of which Selma is injured, have returned to the enclosure. The 4th death, Manda, has been confirmed. Now we wait to see what will happen to the survivors and to the zoo's primate programme.
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