Monkeys are native to Taiwan and Taiwanese have likely seen them before. But for people living in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan, a new monkey menace is here.
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Baboon on the loose! Security camera footage shows this baboon roaming the streets of Taoyuan. Authorities have tried to trap the simian fugitive, but it has foiled their plans each time. Attempts to lure the suspect with bananas have failed, showing that baboons are not so easily fooled.
The Taoyuan animal protection office has warned bystanders not to approach the baboon, and to report sightings immediately to authorities.
This map of sightings in Taoyuan’s Pingzhen District shows how the baboon has evaded capture while terrorizing residents. It currently remains at large.
But some have been acting as accomplices to the baboon, such as Zhenxing Borough President Huang Chih-chieh (黃志杰). Under the pretense of “preventing accidental encounters” with the primate, he has created a special escape route so that it may avoid neighborhoods and reach the forest quickly.
The team leading the hunt has finally stopped monkeying around and requested a tranquilizer gun from the zoo.
All the effort still leaves a big question unanswered: where did the baboon come from? It was first assumed that it escaped from the Taipei Zoo, but zoo staff say all of their monkeys are accounted for. Could it have been an illegal pet? Could it have been a stowaway? Did it swim over from Africa? At this point no one knows. But authorities remind the public to stop with the monkey business and not approach or attempt to feed the baboon.