Escaped monkey on the loose in Highland village

A monkey is on the loose in the Scottish Highlands after escaping from a wildlife park.

The Japanese macaque found a way out of its enclosure at the Highland Wildlife Park near Kincraig on Sunday.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), which runs the park, said it had assembled a team to recapture the animal.

Members of the public have been urged not to approach it but to contact the zoological society with information.

Members of the public have been urged to report sightings but not to approach the monkey

The alarm was raised when the monkey was spotted in gardens in the nearby village of Kincraig.

Carl Nagle said he was having a "lazy Sunday morning" when he read on a local Facebook group that the village had an unusual visitor.

"I looked out the window and there he was, proud as punch, standing against the fence eating nuts that had fallen down from one of the bird feeders," he told BBC Scotland News.

"He hung out, he looked a bit shifty like he was where he wasn't supposed to be, which was true.

"He wandered around the garden a bit - we thought he'd gone but he came back and then he was up on the bird feeders trying to get into them. He was having a really good go - he worked harder at it than a squirrel."

Darren McGarry, head of living collections at RZSS, said: "If members of the public encounter the macaque they should contact [e-mail] with more information and do not approach it."