Zheng Weiren, director of the African animal section of the Taipei Zoo, reminded the public to keep a distance of more than 10 meters when encountering escaped baboons, avoid looking directly at them, and report to relevant units as soon as possible so that professionals can round them up.

(Photographed by reporter Wei Jinyun)

[Reporter Wei Jinyun/Taipei Report] A baboon appeared on the street in Pingzhen District, Taoyuan City, causing an uproar.

Zheng Weiren, director of the African animal section of the Taipei Zoo, reminded that if you encounter this baboon, you should keep a distance of more than 10 meters and avoid looking directly at it.

According to information from the Forest Service, only Taipei Zoo, Leofoo Village Zoo, and Shoushan Zoo keep baboons in Taiwan. The escaped baboons have been initially identified as "pig-tailed baboons" by professionals.

Zheng Weiren said that the baboons raised by the Taipei Zoo are East African baboons. There are 10 baboons in total. It has been confirmed that all the individuals in the park are still there. Today, 6 baboons came out for display, and the number is correct.

Please read on...

Zheng Weiren pointed out that the size and habits of the escaped "pig-tailed baboons" are similar to those of East African baboons. The male is larger, about 30 kilograms, and the weight of the female is half the difference.

Most baboons are active on the ground, and they may also hide in trees in case of danger or food incentives. Therefore, when rounding up, they even look for trees.

Zheng Weiren said that although baboons are unlikely to actively attack humans, the canines of baboons are full of sharp and full length, and getting too close will still be risky. He reminded the public to keep a distance of more than 10 meters from baboons, and there is a chance to escape if they are attacked; If the distance is too close, you can use the bag to block the attack. If you feel that the distance is too close to be life-threatening, you can throw something on your body towards the baboon to distract it.

Zheng Weiren also reminded that anesthesia guns or anesthesia drugs are needed during the round-up process. Remember not to crowd around and avoid looking directly at it, because for wild animals, direct sight has an attacking intention, and not looking directly is a conservative approach.

Regarding the escape prevention mechanism of the Taipei Zoo, Zheng Weiren pointed out that the veterinary houses and exhibition halls have a certain height and electric wire protection facilities, and the conservation staff will also conduct environmental inspections every day. Intensive searching and trapping, as time progresses, the success rate of trapping will gradually decrease.

Animals may also lose their way. At that time, it is necessary to use human or automatic cameras to find the range and direction of movement of animals, and strengthen human search and arrest.

As for the baboons that were originally raised by humans, did they become more aggressive as the escape time lengthened without food?

Zheng Weiren said that baboons are omnivorous animals, and their staple food is plant-based, and the current range of activities is also where people will move. Baboons may go to the trash can to find food, and there will be no problem of no food.

Zheng Weiren said that the zoo will install chips on animals as much as possible, but implanting chips will be painful, and usually anesthesia is given during health checks to implant them, but this chip is only used for individual identification and will not actively send signals.

Escape the baboons.

(Extracted from "On the Road Observation Academy")