14 DAY TRIAL // On June 16, a male baboon was shot dead by a keeper at Knowsley Safari Park in Merseyside, England after it had escaped from its enclosure.
Sources say that the baboon made a run for it not because it wanted to have a taste of freedom, but because it got into a fight with several other males and risked being injured by them.
“At 8.20am on Sunday morning, the animal emergency procedure was activated after an adult male baboon was chased out of the enclosure by more than 20 other males.”
“The baboon tried to protect his only female from being abducted by antagonist males - a common occurrence in baboon society,” a spokesperson for the animal park told members of the press.
The keeper who shot the animal says that, although the latter was not in any way at fault, it still constituted a threat to visitors to the zoo, and that this was why he had to kill it.
“It's very sad when something like this happens, but the police, game keeper and animal management team did everything they could to resolve the situation quickly, safely and humanely,” the spokesperson stated.