Three chimpanzees shot dead after escape from Swedish zoo

Furuviksparken zoo said the animals tragically' had to be put down because of the danger to the public

Three chimpanzees escaped from their enclosure in a Swedish zoo for several hours before being shot dead, according to Swedish media, while a fourth was wounded and a fifth was believed to have returned unharmed to the zoo of its own accord.

They are very strong animals and absolutely not domesticated," Daniel Wikdahl, a police spokesman, told the public broadcaster SVT on Wednesday, adding that it had been the zoo's decision to shoot the four because of the danger to the public.