Chimp Breaks Loose In Park, Is Killed

Jane Sutter and her 2-year-old daughter, Ruby, were about to step off the carousel at the Long Island Game Farm in Manorville, N.Y., yesterday when they were warned that a chimpanzee was loose in the park crowded with more than 500 children.

Sutter then saw what looked to her like a gorilla running by. "This was like a 5-foot man bent over, a big shaggy thing," Sutter said. She first thought it was a stunt.

But then, like a movie, people began to grab children and flee. The 140-pound chimp, a 19-year-old named Barney, lunged at children in a play area.

"The gorilla grabbed a little kid's leg," said Brian Carter of Ronkonkoma, N.Y., who held his 5-year-old nephew, J.P., during the chase. "The mother tried to push the animal away. One of the park security hit the gorilla over the head with a wood fence post."

Another park official then shot Barney and killed him, Carter said.

Game-farm owner Stanley Novak, 63, of East Moriches, N.Y., was taken to Central Suffolk Hospital in Riverhead, N.Y., with a 3-inch laceration to his arm as well as scratches around his body, hospital spokeswoman Nancy Uzo said. Two teachers on field trips were also scratched by the chimpanzee and were treated at the scene, Suffolk County Police spokesman Santo Di Stefano said.

Between 500 and 600 students were at the park on field trips, said park General Manager Greg Drossel. Parks officials immediately moved to evacuate the park.

Barney escaped from his steel-and-concrete enclosure because an employee who feeds him or cleans his cage daily left a door unlocked, Drossel said. The chimp apparently was able to open the door, Drossel said. "He's that brilliant," he said.

Novak was in the park office when he heard that Barney was loose, Drossel said.

Novak took a quart of milk and some cookies from the employee lounge and tried to use them to pacify Barney, Drossel said. It didn't work. Barney attacked Novak and then walked through the game farm to the amusement area.

Barney, who had lived at the park more than 10 years, was killed with a 12-gauge shotgun, Drossel said. He said the worker who shot Barney was distraught.

Drossel said using a tranquilizer gun would have taken too long and that park officials had to act quickly to prevent injury to anyone else.

Gary Rogers, a special agent for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, was to visit the park today to investigate the incident and inspect the park.