The Japanese police said on Monday that they had detained two men from the United States after one of them entered the enclosure of Punch, a 9-month-old macaque who has become an internet sensation, as the other filmed the stunt.
The authorities in Ichikawa, a suburb of Tokyo, detained the Americans on Sunday on charges of obstructing operations at the city’s zoo.
Punch is the zoo’s star attraction, drawing thousands of visitors every day. He became famous this year after photographs of him cradling an orangutan toy spread quickly online; he turned to the toy after his mother abandoned him at birth.
The police in Ichikawa identified the men as Reid Jahnai Daysun, 24, a university student, and Neal Jabahri Duan, 27, a singer, but did not provide any further information. The authorities said that Mr. Daysun had climbed a fence separating visitors from the enclosure while Mr. Duan filmed.
The two men deny the charges, the police said. They are to be questioned further by prosecutors on Tuesday.
Videos of the episode show a person dressed in a smiling-emoji head covering and blue suit climbing over a fence and descending into Punch’s enclosure, which is home to about 50 macaques. The costume appears to be a mascot associated with a cryptocurrency social media account. The intruder is shown carrying a stuffed toy with the same costume.
In the videos, the macaques are shown running from the intruder and rushing to the top of an artificial rock formation in the enclosure. After about a minute, a zookeeper appears and escorts the intruder away.
Officials at the Ichikawa City Zoo said that they had referred the matter to the police on Sunday.
“We apologize for the concern” caused by the intrusion, the zoo said in a statement on Monday. “No abnormalities have been observed among the animals.”
Starting on Tuesday, the zoo said that it would restrict the viewing area at the enclosure housing Punch, adding that it would install “intrusion prevention nets” and institute “permanent patrols.”
Shortly after Punch was born in July, his mother abandoned him, most likely because of a difficult labor during a heat wave, zoo officials have said. He was reintroduced to his troop in January, but, without his mother’s guidance, he had a difficult time integrating, often playing by himself.
He has inspired “Team Punch” T-shirts, social media stickers and action figures, and his fans share clips of him eating, sleeping and playing inside the enclosure.
Javier C. Hernández is the Tokyo bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of Japan and the region. He has reported from Asia for much of the past decade, previously serving as China correspondent in Beijing.
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