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Orangutan and her baby escape Perth Zoo enclosure

An orangutan climbed out of her enclosure at Perth Zoo to rescue her five-year-old boy Sungai after he lost his grip on some equipment and fell into a garden bed about 2.30pm on Sunday.

Amanda Oliver was at the zoo with her son, and tweeted it seemed the young orangutan had swung down to play with her son, before visitors to the zoo were evacuated to the safety of the nocturnal house.

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Orangutan and baby escape Perth Zoo enclosure

An orangutan and her baby escape their Perth Zoo enclosure on Sunday afternoon.

"It was a bit scary once the mum jumped down," she said.

Zoo visitor Jess McConnell also witnessed the escape and managed to capture some video.

"The baby was on the palm tree," she said.

"The mum leapt down from the silver tower onto the banana tree and the zip line which reverberated the walkway. She then got up on the walkway railing before moving along and grabbing her baby then moving back on the railing.

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"She seemed really calm, just confused on where to go next. Everyone around was really calm and giving her space as well. The whole incident was probably only 30-40 seconds before staff arrived."

Ms McConnell said she advised some people to move away 'as they were probably within arms reach at one point'.

"The ones in the video didn't move closer to her, they just kinda stayed where they were," she said.

"Everyone that was in front of her when she got on the rails before she grabbed her baby moved away to give her space."

Perth Zoo spokeswoman Danielle Henry said the young orangutan was 'playing around on some equipment'.

"He lost his grip and fell into a garden bed," she said.

"Sekara is an excellent mum and a bit of a helicopter parent, and the only way to get to him was to pop on to the visitor board. She retrieved him and returned to the enclosure on her own. 

"Keepers were calling to her, and she has a very good relationship with them."

Ms Henry said the orangutan remained calm and Sungai returned with keepers. 

"The incident was over within 15 minutes. As per standard procedure, visitors were swiftly remove from surrounding areas," she said.

"Sekara remained calm whilst on the boardwalk. However if she felt threatened she could have elicited a typical fight or flight response – this was not the case today.

"Perth Zoo's keepers have regular contact with individuals in the orangutan colony which has contributed to Sekara's ease and calmness around humans... a full review of the incident is underway."

It was not the first time an orangutan has escaped at the zoo. 

In 2015 five-year-old Teliti delighted visitors and shocked keepers when she managed to jump out of a different exhibit.

Back then, Ms Henry said no one had expected the escape.

"Orangutans know to climb and swing but until now it was generally thought that they couldn't jump. So that came as a real surprise to us," she said.