NEW York was flung into a state of panic yesterday as thousands of people watched an 80 foot-high gorilla climb the Empire State Building.

Carol is the office bike

The White House later apologised for the incident, revealing that it had simply wanted a nice photograph of the city's population gaping in terror at a giant, furious ape.

The first signs of panic were at 9.30am when office workers were evacuated after a four-foot wide eyeball was seen peering into their meeting room.

Sales manager Bernadette McLintock said: "Josh was just giving us the weekly figures when there was a really strong smell of bananas and faeces.

"The next thing I know, there's this huge monkey nose sniffing the coffee machine. I thought his big hand was going to reach in and grab me, but he went for my friend Carol instead. Skank."

Air Force general Thomas Logan said: "Yesterday's activities were unfortunate but from time to time we will have to carry out anti-monster exercises.