This is the moment a runaway macaque who evaded capture for five days is finally netted by rangers after being shot with a dart.

The monkey, nicknamed Kingussie Kong by an infatuated public, led the authorities on a merry dance for nearly a week, but was finally captured yesterday after being enticed by a Yorkshire pudding that was left out by a local. 

Mountains rescue teams tracking the elusive primate, whose real name is Honshu, were called to Stephanie Banyan’s home in the village of Kincraig, just a few miles away from the Highland Wildlife Park, where he escaped on Sunday. 

Drone footage shows the mischievous monkey climbing around Stephanie’s house using thermal imaging before he is shot with a tranquilliser gun and collected by a ranger with a big black net.

Honshu, who is said to be in ‘perfect health’, has been pictured back behind bars following his daring escape and is now settling back with his mates. 

Runaway macaque, nicknamed Kingussie Kong by an infatuated public, is seen here in drone footage at a local’s house in Kincraig

Minutes later the monkey was shot with a tranquilliser gun and collected by a ranger with a big black net

On-the-run Japanese macaque monkey nicknamed Kingussie Kong is now back in captivity following his five-day escape attempt

Honshu the Japanese macaque does not appear to have lost any weight and seems to have eaten ‘quite a lot of peanuts’ during his time in the wild, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) said. 

He was caught by keepers on Thursday after Stephanie spotted him snacking at a bird feeder in her garden. 

He may have been tempted by a Yorkshire pudding which had been left on the bird table overnight and was all gone in the morning, according to reports.

Stephanie told 5 News how when she looked through her window the monkey was staring straight at her. She said it had been lured to her house after she left out a Yorkshire pudding the night before. 

The agile monkey scarpered soon after being snapped by Stephanie, but not before he politely left some monkey droppings in her garden.  

‘I was shocked. I ran down to Howard and said the monkey is in our garden.

‘He came down here and jumped up on the wall here and stayed there for a little while. We have some evidence that the monkey has been here.’

The dramatic footage of Honshu recapture was released by BH Wildlife Consultancy, who led the operation to find him. 

Keith Gilchrist, living collections operations manager at Highland Wildlife Park confirmed just after 12pm yesterday that Honshu had been recaptured. 

Mountains rescue teams tracking the elusive primate used thermal imaging cameras to track down the monkey

Two rangers can be seen on the right of the footage getting ready to shoot the monkey with tranquilliser darts

Honshu is seen here scampering on top of Stephanie’s house in Kincraig

A picture taken by Stephanie of the macaque who escaped from Highland Wildlife Park on Sunday

He said: ‘We can confirm we have successfully caught the macaque that escaped from the park on Sunday named Honshu.

‘After a call to our hotline just after 10am our keepers and drone team made their way to a member of the public’s garden where the monkey was eating from a birdfeeder and successfully used a tranquiliser dart to catch him.

‘The monkey is on the way back to the park with our keepers where he will be looked over by one of our vet team and reintroduced to sub-adult males within the group.

‘We want to thank everyone who has helped during the process and will continue to share any further updates.’

Alan Bannon, head of communications at the RZSS which runs the Highland Wildlife Park, said it was a relief to finally capture the monkey.

He said: ‘We got a phone call from a member of the public saying they had spotted the animal in their garden helping himself to a bird feeder.

‘We sent out our drone team and our keepers and they confirmed it was the macaque.’

Mr Bannon said the monkey had been brought safely back to the park where it would be checked by vets before being given a ‘good feed’.

‘He is recovering from the dart but is in perfect health,’ This Morning’s resident vet Dr Scott Miller said. 

Some locals have said the bizarre episode is reminiscent of the 2005 film Madagascar where escaped monkeys are surrounded and caught.

In the popular film a group of cartoon animals escape from New York’s Central Park zoo in an attempt to find ‘the wild’.

Alex the Lion, his friend Melman the giraffe, and Gloria the hippopotamus manage to break free, followed by some monkeys.

Mountain rescue team member Jonny Porteous uses a drone to search for the escaped monkey

Highland Wildlife Park confirmed cheeky Honshu’s recapture on Thursday

BH Wildlife Consultancy posted this image on instagram describing their ‘bonkers morning’ as they wrapped up ‘Mission Monkey’

The scene reminded some locals of the hilarious moment in the 2005 film Madagascar where escaped monkeys are surrounded and caught

The macaque left the wildlife park near Kingussie on Sunday after finding a way out of his enclosure.

Honshu was first spotted on Monday in a man’s garden in the village of Kingraic nibbling on a bird feeder. 

Drone footage captured on Tuesday showed him roaming about underneath trees and sitting in undergrowth to have a look about before loping off.

The macaque was around 300 metres (roughly 980ft) north of the entry to the park in the footage captured on Tuesday. 

However the monkey was not in a position from which keepers could retrieve him that day due to high winds, with a yellow weather warning in place in the area.

The RZSS said the monkey was unlikely to have posed a threat to the public or pets, but had asked that people did not approach it.

Highland Council said that as a precaution, children at Alvie Primary School in Kincraig stayed inside during Monday’s morning break.

But the pupils were later able to play outside following an update from the Highland Wildlife Park team.

The first drone footage of an escaped Japanese snow monkey showing the animal strolling through woodland – just 300 yards from the park

Drone footage from BH Wildlife Consultancy of a Japanese macaque which escaped from the Highland Wildlife Park on Sunday

Honshu was spotted tucking into a bird feeder in a local garden on Tuesday. It was a similar weakness for grub which led to his sad capture today

A drone was used again on Thursday morning and he was found about two miles from the zoo. 

Zookeeps at Highland Wildlife Park said they were doing extra headcounts following the escape.

It has a large group of the monkeys at the centre and welcomed six babies between 2020 and 2022.

The Japanese macaque, also known as the snow monkey, is the most northerly living non-human primate, according to the Royal Zoological Society Scotland.