Sioux Falls Monkey Out of Surgery After Visitor Throws Bottle Top

The City of Sioux Falls has many attractions for residents and visitors to enjoy, like exploring the animals at the Great Plains Zoo & Delbridge Museum of Natural History. Unfortunately, a recent visitor at the Great Plains Zoo accidentally caused some serious injuries to one of the monkeys.

In a Facebook post, officials of the Great Plains Zoo tell its followers that Kai, the Japanese macaque, is recovering after surgery on Monday. Kai's surgery could have been avoided. Why? Someone littered inside Kai's enclosure (snow monkey exhibit) by dropping a bottle top. This led to curiosity and Kai thought it was food.

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Without a second thought, Kai tucked this bottle top into his cheek pouch to save for later. Tucking food inside a cheek pouch is a normal behavior for monkeys. Since Kai was unaware this item wasn't food, the bottle top eventually "wore its way the cheek and needed to be surgically removed." Great Plains Zoo shared Kai's story on its Facebook page not only to highlight the work of the veterinary team, but also as a lesson for future visitors. Just a heads up: The Great Plains Zoo did post actual photos from the surgery.

Thankfully, Kai's surgery was successful and he is resting while in recovery. Kai will also have remaining scars.

It's okay to tell one of the zoo employees at the Great Plains Zoo if you drop something inside an animal enclosure. Some of the top priorities of zoo employees are to keep the animals safe and healthy. It truly takes a village to raise zoos!

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Source: Sioux Falls Monkey Out of Surgery After Visitor Throws Bottle Top