Baboons rampaging around Sydney escaped from “research facility”
Sydney came to a standstill as three baboons were spotted running around Royal Prince Alfred Hospital yesterday.
The male baboon was being transported for a vasectomy at the hospital and made a break for freedom with his two wives, causing panic within the hospital grounds.
Expert handlers from Taronga Zoo were called in once police sealed off the entrance to a car park so the baboons couldn’t escape.
An eye-witness to the incident called 2GB’s Ben Fordham, explaining the situation with awe.
“I’m deadset serious. I’m at RPA, I’m six floors up and I just happened to gaze out at the carpark … and there were three baboons in the carpark.
“I’m deadset serious they even had shiny red bottoms … (they were) running around the carpark.
“Mate I’m deadset. I had a coffee an hour ago and I thought ‘what have they put in this coffee’ Even the nurses here have gone ‘my god’.”
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said he found the escape hard to believe.
“I thought I had seen just about everything as Health Minister in NSW, but a baboon threesome hightailing around RPA Hospital like there is no tomorrow?” Mr Hazzard joked to The Daily Telegraph.
"Should I ring the police? No, I'll ring @BenFordham." A witness to Sydney's baboon break-out describes the unbelievable sight! 😂 #9Today pic.twitter.com/7P2ygqo6FZ
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) February 25, 2020
“There are three baboons who were being transported from their normal colony and the first advice is that there was a failure in the door of the crate inside the truck and they’ve gone into a carpark,” Mr Hazard explained before the animals were sedated and recaptured.
Police told nine.com.au officers were on the scene outside Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
"Just after 5.30 pm officers from inner west police area command were called to a car park on Missenden Road and Lucas Street, Camperdown, after reports three baboons escaped while being transported," a NSW police spokeswoman said.
"They are currently contained and police are working with experts to safely return them to their facility.
"There is no immediate danger to the public but people are advised to avoid the area."