Escaped ape attacks Kansas City police car

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A 300-pound pet chimpanzee that broke free from its chains has been captured after briefly wandering around a Kansas City neighborhood and smashing out the window of a police car.

The Kansas City Star reports the chimpanzee, named Sueko, got loose from her chains around noon and started trying to get into neighbors' vehicles and the front doors of their homes.

Police officers who responded to the scene pulled their AR-15 rifles out and were prepared to shoot the chimpanzee if it approached anyone. But it didn't.

Instead, it pushed a plastic trash can toward a patrol car, climbed on the vehicle and struck the passenger-side window with its fist before running off.

An animal control officer shot the chimpanzee with a tranquilizer dart, but that wasn't enough to subdue the animal. The chimpanzee climbed a tree, and a second shot with a tranquilizer dart missed.

The chimpanzee's owner, Mark Archigo, was able to coax the chimpanzee down from the tree and into a cage in the back of his pickup.

Archigo, who was cited previously for having the chimp, was ticketed for having a dangerous animal within the Kansas City limits, an animal control officer said.

The chimpanzee was taken to a licensed, safe sanctuary for exotic animals in Greenwood, southeast of Kansas City, said Patrick Egberuare, manager of the city's animal health and public safety division. He said the chimp will stay there while city officials try to come up with a permanent solution.

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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com