An internet-famous baby macaque at a Japanese zoo has found himself at the center of an unexpected international incident, after two American men were arrested for trespassing into his enclosure earlier this week.
Nine-month-old Punch, a baby Japanese macaque, won global hearts earlier this year after footage of him clinging to a stuffed orangutan toy went viral across social media. Abandoned by his mother shortly after birth, Punch relied on the soft toy for comfort while he struggled to bond with the other macaques in his troop at Ichikawa City Zoo, located just outside Tokyo. Recent updates from the zoo had brought good news, however: after months of gradual socialization, Punch is finally integrating with the rest of the group, even being spotted grooming other monkeys and returning hugs from his new companions.
According to local Japanese police, the incident unfolded on Sunday morning. Authorities say a 24-year-old American college student climbed over a perimeter fence to enter Punch’s enclosed habitat, while a second 27-year-old American man, who identifies as a singer, filmed the reckless stunt. Clips of the incident captured by other visiting zoo guests and shared online show the trespasser wearing a full costume while carrying a stuffed toy, with the costume reportedly designed to promote a cryptocurrency project. Zoo staff quickly intercepted the intruder and escorted him out of the enclosure without any harm coming to Punch or the other macaques in the habitat.
Both men have been taken into police custody on suspicion of forcible obstruction of the zoo’s lawful business operations, and both have denied the allegations against them. Ichikawa Police confirmed to AFP that the intruders never reached the area where the animals were housed and were apprehended within minutes, so no animals were injured during the incident.
In a formal statement released on Monday, Ichikawa City Zoo officials confirmed they had filed an official damage report with local law enforcement and are already implementing new security measures to prevent similar reckless incidents from happening in the future. Planned upgrades include expanding the restricted public viewing zone around Punch’s enclosure and installing new anti-intrusion netting along the perimeter. The facility is also considering a total ban on personal filming around the enclosure and has temporarily paused all requests from content creators to film at the site.
This is not the first time a viral animal celebrity has drawn unwanted trespassing from visitors seeking their own 15 minutes of fame. Just one month prior, a man was fined $300 for breaking into the enclosure of Moo Deng, the globally famous baby pygmy hippo at a Thai zoo, who also went viral for viral photos and clips of the young endangered animal. Wildlife and zoo officials have repeatedly warned that unauthorized entry into animal enclosures puts both visitors and animals at severe risk, and can disrupt the carefully managed social environments that captive animal populations rely on.