Baboon or monkey? Either way, deputies looking for this simian

By HOWARD ALTMAN The Tampa Tribune
Published: November 18, 2009

TAMPA - Eric Gonzalez and his wife Tiffany were driving on Linebaugh Avenue this afternoon when an animal darted in front of their 2007 Dodge Caravan.

"Look out for that dog," Eric said his wife told him.

"But when it crossed in front of us, it was running at an alarming speed," Gonzalez said. "As soon as it stood up on its back legs, I knew it wasn't a dog."

It was, he said, a baboon.

"It had a bald butt, the body was beige, the butt was pinkish," Gonzalez said.

Just as quickly as the couple saw the creature, it was gone.

"As soon as it jumped up, it jumped right off to Williams Road," he said. "It cleared a 6-foot fence."

After the shock wore off, the couple called authorities – Eric called the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, Tiffany called 911.

It was the second call about the baboon deputies had received, according to HCSO spokesman Larry McKinnon.

The first call came in about 1:30 p.m., he said. Because the animal was spotted near Canella Elementary School, deputies contacted school officials, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Lowry Park Zoo, said McKinnon.

Gonzalez said he called in the baboon sighting because of concern for the neighborhood.

"We live in the area," said Gonzalez. "My main concern was that this is a wild animal. We have a lot of kids in the area. There is a school right there and we do not want the kids to be curious and approach it. The animal, being wild, might turn around and attack one of the kids."

McKinnon said the animal probably escaped from captivity.

"We suspect it was a large monkey or baboon that escaped from a house in the area," McKinnon said. "We have had reports of this for a week."

McKinnon said because the animal was near a school, the sheriff's office sent a helicopter and patrol cars to investigate.

So far, deputies have not been able to find the animal, which was last seen shortly before 2 p.m. running behind a Hindu temple on Nixon Road.

It is possible this may be the same simian seen in Tampa last week, McKinnon said.

Last week, a resident reported seeing a monkey in East Tampa, hunkered down in a tree on Elm Street just south of Sligh Avenue, west of the Hillsborough River.

Initially, residents called to say there was a monkey on the loose. Then spectators said it appeared to be a big raccoon. Fish & Wildlife officers arrived and determined it was a macaque monkey.

"An officer went up into the tree to get a better look at it," commission spokesman Gary Morse said at the time.

The animal spotted Wednesday was most likely not a baboon, he said, but a macaque.

"A lot of people might mistake a macaque for a baboon," he said.

At this point, Fish & Wildlife officers are not searching for the animal because they are waiting to hear back from HCSO, Morse said.

Officers have no idea where the macaque came from. A breeding population of rhesus macaques lives in the woods of the Silver Springs area, near Ocala, but officers here don't know whether there is a connection.

It's possible the monkey is a pet that escaped, Morse said. So far, no one has filed a missing monkey report. A permit is required in order to have a monkey.

Lowry Park Zoo officials said the animal isn't from their facility.

"All of ours are accounted for," zoo spokeswoman Rachel Nelson said.

Morse said officers have given up the active hunt.

"We're just telling people if they see it to just let us know," Morse said. "Don't feed it and don't approach it."

The macaques generally are not aggressive, but they can be "if you corner them or get in their personal space," he said. "They are very strong and capable of hurting somebody, but only if they feel threatened. They are not going to go out there and hunt somebody down."

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/nov/18/181723/baboon-or-monkey-either-way-deputies-looking-simia/news-breaking/

(Submitted by Chad Arment)