Paris Zoo Shut After 50 Baboons Escape from Enclosure

About 50 monkeys have broken the security of the Grand Roche, the zoo in Paris, this Friday. In the morning, the primates, mostly baboons, have escaped from their cages and have prepared to roam around the park, which has had to be evacuated to avoid incidents with visitors as reported by the zoo.

The situation has already been controlled and almost all the animals have returned to the site; four of them are being reviewed by veterinarians, according to a message on the Twitter account of Grand Roche.

A detachment of elite shooters went to the park with anaesthetic cartridges to try to control the baboons and the police established a security perimeter around the park so that none of the animals escaped.

The teams managed to surround the monkeys in an area of the zoo, which is located next to the forest of Vincennes, one of the largest arboreal areas of the capital. After three in the afternoon, “the situation was under control,” the zoo’s Twitter account reads. “All the monkeys have returned to their cages, except four that are being examined,” the text adds.

The authorities have not yet been able to determine how the primates have escaped and are conducting an investigation to uncover it. In recent months, zoos across the world have experienced an epidemic of animal leaks. Among some of the escapes are the Inky octopus, which escaped from the National Aquarium of New Zealand or the owl Oscar in Adelaide.