Chimpanzee food was vanishing at this Japanese zoo. Turns out, someone was...

A zookeeper in Japan was caught stealing food meant for monkeys and chimpanzees. He was entrusted with the job of caring for the animals, however, he ended up taking their share from them.

The Tennoji Zoo in western Japan’s Osaka prefecture was shocked to find that the supplies in their animal food bank had been dwindling. The fruits and vegetables were vanishing, and the officials could not understand what was happening.

So they approached the police, assuming that a theft was taking place.

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The police opened a probe to pin down the culprit and eventually zeroed in on a 47-year-old zookeeper, who worked at the Animal Care and Breeding Showcase department at the facility.

Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun reported that the man, who has not been identified, was caught red-handed stealing food that was supposed to feed the animals on Oct 1. The police are investigating the reason for his theft.

Zoo officials are quite embarrassed to learn of the incident. The zoo’s vice director, Kiyoshi Yasufuku, said he was sorry for the zookeeper’s behaviour.

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The zoo also apologised to the public for the incident, saying that it had hurt "people’s trust". It promised to deal with the matter strictly and prevent it from happening again.

Netizens sympathise with zookeeper

Located at the heart of Osaka, the zoo houses more than 1,000 animals, spanning around 170 species.

People took to social media to react to the incident, with some of them expressing sympathy with the zookeeper, who they believe isn't likely paid enough, forcing him to steal the food.

Some people think that he sold the food to make some extra money. A few of them also dug out old posts showing the quality of the food prepared for the animals, which they say was "better than human food".

Notably, according to a job search website related to Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japanese zookeepers on average earn 3.6 million yen (US$24,000) yearly.