WATCH: Chimp Escapes From Japanese Zoo, Falls From Power Lines After Getting Shot With Sedative

TOKYO (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A chimpanzee fled from a zoo in northern Japan and tried desperately to avoid being captured by climbing an electric pole.

Not for long.

Chacha, the male chimp, was on the loose nearly two hours Thursday after it disappeared from the Yagiyama Zoological Park in Sendai, the city that's hosting finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations in May.

TV footage showed Chacha perched atop the pole, agitated and screaming at zoo workers below. Even after being hit by a sedative arrow in the back, Chacha desperately tried to escape, dangling from a power line.

Chacha lashed out at workers, but finally gave up and fell head down into a blanket held by a dozen workers on the ground. It's not immediately clear if he survived.

The Japan Times reported a local elementary school would not allow students to leave until the chimp was caught.

"When I saw (the chimpanzee) on television, it was quite big, so we thought it was dangerous to let the children out," Takashi Yamaguchi, the school's vice principal, said.

Zoo officials are investigating how he escaped.

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