just to jump back a bit to the animal escape,,,,,,,,,,,,,darting the macaque may not have been as simple for all the reasons mentioned, but you have to bear in mind too the time it takes for the sedative to have an effect, if any. if the animal posed any sort of perceived or real threat to public safety, this window of time might be too long. in addition, darting the animal could have resulted in it becoming either more agitated and aggressive, running away and being lost or dying accidently. a ****** scenario all round.
just to steal the thread for 2 seconds, would love to have been at Taronga Zoo on either the day the clouded leopard got out or a bongo, when staff had to phyically restrain the animal by its horns to prevent it jumping into the kodiak bear enclosure moat!!!!!