Baboons ‘given tools to monkey with cars’
ANIMAL keepers at a safari park fear pranksters have armed baboons with screwdrivers, knives and a chainsaw to damage cars.
Staff claim the primates have been given the implements “for a laugh” by visitors or obtained them by rummaging in toolboxes of workers in enclosures.
The animals are notorious for ripping off windscreen wipers, side-mirrors and flags from cars.
One park worker at Knowsley Safari on Merseyside said: “We cannot be sure if they are being given weapons by guests who want to see them attack cars or if they are fishing them out of pick-up trucks and vans. One of the baboons was seen lugging around a chainsaw.”
Another worker added: “The baboons have been found with knives and screwdrivers. I do wonder if guests hand them out.”
A mechanic from Sale, in Greater Manchester, claimed he tended to two cars this year after the vehicles were pounced on by the baboons.
He said: “The kids start chirping up saying they want monkeys all over the car, and the next thing you know, you’re driving home with no registration plate.”
The 550-acre park – home to lions, tigers and rhinos as well as the baboons – dismissed the reports.
A spokesman said: “We believe many of these stories have grown in exaggeration as they’ve been retold, with embellishment to make the objects sometimes found in the enclosure seem more exciting.”
The park stated there were “no verified, first-hand reports” of the baboons wielding dangerous tools.
Ironically, the baboons at the park were used by car manufacturer Hyundai in 2012 to help test durability of its hatchbacks.