It brings me no joy to report the three baboons which broke free at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital last night have been captured, bringing an urban primate adventure to an unceremonious end.
However, the great ape escape of 2020 will live in the hearts of Sydneysiders for years, as evidenced by the torrent of social media commentary dedicated to the nation’s favourite escapees.
In case you missed it, it one male baboon and two female counterparts are believed to have escaped a transportation crate at the hospital before roaming to the Queen Elizabeth II carpark, where they were successfully corralled by police and retrieved by Taronga Zoo staff.
The baboons have been spotted! Details shortly on #9News. #BaboonWatch #SydneyBaboons
📸 – Michael Tran pic.twitter.com/Ww7uqc6n2R
— 9News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) February 25, 2020
EXCLUSIVE: Footage sent to https://t.co/TWh1KQycs4 shows the moment a baboon trio emerged from Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital just before 5.30pm. https://t.co/dg4F8KcEYc #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/nn0xG60nJI
— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) February 25, 2020
The male baboon was reportedly scheduled to undergo a vasectomy to curtail excess breeding among a colony of baboons kept in Wallacia for medical research purposes. The two female baboons were there “Just to keep him calm,” NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard told the Sydney Morning Herald.
The baboons made a lifelong impression on those they encountered, though. The Daily Telegraph reports the threesome actually wandered past the The Professor Marie Bashir Centre for mental health, where patients “crowded by the windows and were seen laughing and high-fiving as the baboons escaped.”
Further afield, the city imagined a life shared with baboons, a tantalising reality cut short by the work of well-meaning police and zoo staff.
Sorry if you aren’t in Australia: some baboons have escaped and we have collectively lost our minds. Don’t try to help
— Bec Shaw (@Brocklesnitch) February 25, 2020
How is Sydney the type of city where there can be sniffer dogs at train stations but also several baboons on the loose
— Rudi Edsall (@RudiEdsall) February 25, 2020
Fucking humans with your fucking dog parks and your fucking cat cafes and your fucking baboon hospitals.
— Sweary the Bear (@sweary_bear) February 25, 2020
Seeing baboons loose on the streets vs remembering the reason for the virus in 28 Days Later #BaboonWatch pic.twitter.com/lS0TwlTOEG
— Kieran L (@kieran_shaker) February 25, 2020
horrifying corollary of this baboon escape is the idea that cities contain drastically more baboons than previously thought
— Tiger Webb (@tfswebb) February 25, 2020
Baboon currently in a Newtown sharehouse ripping a bong and complaining about the mould the landlord has just painted over
— Alex Lee (@alex_c_lee) February 25, 2020
If a bloke tells you there’s baboons outside and another bloke says there aren’t it’s your job to stick your bloody head out the window and have your face ripped off
— dan nolan (@dannolan) February 25, 2020
[my friend, having succeeded in convincing me to leave my house for the first time in 13 years where I recovered from my baboon phobia]
“Its just Missenden Road, buddy. Highly unlikely anything related to your phobia will happen to you there.”
— Rick Morton (@SquigglyRick) February 25, 2020
https://twitter.com/bencjenkins/status/1232201458205872129
Here you go mate – up the ‘boons! pic.twitter.com/RaD20nYTRL
— TLCRF80mins (@TLCRF80mins) February 25, 2020
NSW Greens Senator and the party’s animal welfare spokesperson Mehreen Faruqi also issued her edict on the situation:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Greens Spokesperson for Animal Welfare has welcomed the Sydney Baboon’s bid for freedom.
“I wish them well,” she said.
ENDS. https://t.co/dDnu0LrB21
— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) February 25, 2020
We will keep you posted on if, and hopefully when, another batch of apes escape.
