Two Americans are accused of trespassing in the monkey enclosure at the Japanese zoo housing the famous baby macaque Punch.
Reid Jahnai Dayson climbed a fence at the Ichikawa Zoological and Botanical Garden and then jumped down 13 feet into the enclosure around 11 a.m. Sunday, the Ichikawa Police Department told TBS News, a Japanese partner network to CBS News. Neal Jabahri Duan filmed Mr. Dayson’s entry into the enclosure, police said.
Mr. Dayson, 24, and Mr. Duan, 27, are charged with obstructing a business by force, according to the Chiba Prefecture police website.
Mr. Dayson, who was dressed up in costume as a yellow, sunglasses-wearing emoji, told police that he “had to do it because he lost a bet on soccer,” according to TBS News.
Zoo officials posted on X that “no abnormalities were observed in the animals” after the incident. The enclosure houses 60 monkeys, according to TBS News.
Punch, born in July 2025, went viral online this year after a video showed him hauling around an orangutan doll that served as a maternal surrogate because his own mother had rejected him.
The Ichikawa zoo, less than 10 miles east of Tokyo, is implementing new viewing restrictions, installing anti-intrusion nets and considering a total ban on filming at the monkey enclosure, zoo officials posted on X.
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