Orangutan short-circuited fence

ADELAIDE, Australia, May 11 (UPI) -- An orangutan that escaped from its enclosure at an Australian zoo used a tree branch to evade the electric fence around its enclosure, witnesses said.

Adelaide Zoo visitors said the 27-year-old orangutan returned to its enclosure after failing to make it past a second fence, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Monday.

"It was amazing how he did it, because he actually got a branch, pulled it over the electric fence and then got over," witness Ryan Johnston, 11, said of the animal's escape.

Zoo curator Peter Whitehead said the incident was not the first time the female primate has tried to outsmart her keepers.

"This animal has a history of trying to outsmart and be a little bit smarter, and she's an animal which has caused lots of keepers a lot of late hours," he said.