OFFICIALS AT A Swedish zoo have recaptured three chimpanzees who had broken out of their enclosure, and got them back into a secure space, but four others were shot dead.

The Furuvik zoo said in a statement that the surviving animals are now being looked after and one who is injured is receiving veterinary care.

The apes had escaped on Wednesday, with some of them making their way out of the monkey house where they lived.

Officials were forced to shoot them because of the danger to the public. Two were shot in the zoo grounds and one was confirmed dead inside the monkey house.

When keepers were finally able to get inside on Saturday, they found the body of a fourth chimp.

“What has happened is a great tragedy and a huge failure of us,” the zoo said in a statement on Facebook.

“We all feel a huge sadness about what has happened and mourn our beloved chimps Linda, Torsten, Santino and Manda.

“We are very keen to get to the bottom of how this could have happened and the investigation may show where we have (failed) or if we could have acted differently.”

The zoo identified the surviving chimps as Selma, Maria-Magdalena and Tjobbe, and said Selma’s injuries were being treated.

The Furuvik zoo is near Gavle, 160 kilometres north of Stockholm. It is part of an amusement park.

According to the park’s website, it is also the only primate research station in the Nordic countries.

It is not the first time in recent months that animals have escaped from Swedish zoos.

In October, a venomous king cobra escaped from its terrarium at a zoo in Sweden but returned by itself after a week.