Following in the footsteps of Ueno Zoo, workers at western Tokyo’s Tama Zoo held a training exercise this week to practice capturing animals that may break-out during a natural disaster or an especially audacious escape bid. And, like their downtown counterparts, the staff utilised the latest in make-up methods and animatronics technology to make the drill more realistic.
Perhaps understandably, the ultra life-like orang-utan outfit sported by Morita from marketing put the fear of God into the majority of those present, but eager to please her new employer, recent recruit Nakamura-san risked life and limb by bravely attempting to coax the confused animal back towards its enclosure.
The rampaging beast’s refusal to play along however resulted in the arrival of gun-wielding young Goto-san,
who, as the rest of the staff cowered behind protective fences, promptly halted the primate’s potter about.
A result that whilst delighting zoo officials had a decidedly different affect on two visiting school children.