The Taoyuan baboon was shot and died today after wandering for 18 days.

(Photographed by reporter Chen Enhui)

[Reporter Wei Jinyun/Taipei Report] An escaped baboon in Taoyuan was shot to death this evening. The Forestry Bureau of the Agriculture Committee of the Executive Yuan said tonight that the baboon's body will be sent to the Taipei Zoo for examination tomorrow.

The zoo said that if necessary, the zoo will fully cooperate.

On the 10th of this month, some people witnessed a baboon walking on the street in Pingzhen District, Taoyuan City. Although the "Big Baboon Zhouzhang" continued to hunt after the Taoyuan City Government Agriculture Bureau received the report, it was still unable to capture it, and the footprints of the baboon are all over the place. In Pingzhen, Yangmei and Xinwu Districts, they also broke into the vegetable gardens of residents to eat cabbage and sweet potatoes to eat their hunger. Today, they were found staying at the Fugang Base of Taiwan Railways for about 2 hours before leaving. Unexpectedly, the baboon died of serious injuries shortly after being captured this afternoon. .

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Taipei Zoo spokesperson Cao Xianshao said that the zoo has prepared a quarantine space. If there is a need for species identification, when the baboon corpse arrives at the quarantine center of the zoo, the species can be determined through appearance and molecular testing, and there is an opportunity to go further. Determine where the baboons escaped from.

Cao Xianshao said that in the case of the Taipei Zoo, each individual of a mammal like a baboon is microchipped, but different zoo institutions do not have microchipped, so it is not easy to identify.

Cao Xianshao added that the awareness of conservation has risen, and the probability of relatively large primates being imported from abroad is relatively low.

Cao Xianshao said that it is difficult to directly identify the species of baboons that have been raised artificially. If you want to further confirm the identity, you can use molecular detection technology to know whether the baboon is a reasonably suspected East African baboon or a grassland baboon. It is also the dolphin-tailed baboon that scholars and experts suspect.

Lai Yanxue, Director of the Veterinary Department of Taipei Zoo, said that in order to ensure the health of the animals, new animals will be kept in the quarantine house for a period of time and undergo a health assessment. For baboons, they will be kept for at least 30 days before entering the park. After anesthesia, inspection, blood collection, X-ray ultrasound and other procedures are used for testing; it is currently unknown whether the baboon has related infectious diseases.